Corporate & Securities Law

The Price of Gas in Antlers, OK

From the DOJ:

A federal grand jury in Oklahoma returned a one-count indictment today charging Kwik-Chek Food Stores Inc., a Texas-based convenience store company, and one of its agents, Jarrod “Judd” Thomas, with conspiring to fix the price of retail gasoline and diesel fuel sold in Antlers, Okla.  The indictment, filed today in the U.S. District Court in Muskogee, Okla., charges that Thomas, acting on behalf of Kwik-Chek, conspired to fix the prices of retail gasoline and diesel with competing retailers in Antlers. Kwik-Chek, based in Bonham, Texas, distributes and sells gasoline and diesel products at convenience stores located in Oklahoma and Texas, including two stores in Antlers. The indictment further charges that the conspiracy began at least as early as 2002 and continued until at least June 2007.

Finally, the example I use in antitrust class every year the of colluding gas retailers in a small town makes sense thanks to Mr. Jarrod “Judd” Thomas and co-conspirators!

Full post as published by Truth on the Market on September 30, 2008 (boomark / email).