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US: Aluminum price-fixing claims rejected by appeals court

By  |  August 9, 2016

A US appeals court on Tuesday upheld the dismissal of nationwide antitrust litigation accusing banks and commodity companies of conspiring to drive up aluminum prices by reducing supply, forcing them to overpay.

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    By a 3-0 vote, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said so-called commercial end users and consumer end users lacked standing to sue because their alleged antitrust injuries were too far removed from the alleged misconduct.

    The plaintiffs had accused Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, the mining company Glencore Plc, and various commodity trading, metals mining and metals warehousing companies of having colluded from 2009 to 2012 to rig prices by hoarding inventory.

    This allegedly caused big delays to fill orders, leading to higher storage costs at warehouses in the Detroit area and elsewhere, which in turn inflated aluminum prices and the cost of producing cabinets, flashlights, strollers and other goods.

    Regulators in the United States and Europe have also examined aluminum price-fixing allegations.

    Full Content: Reuters

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