Former asphalt company president gets prison for bid rigging conspiracy
The former president of a Michigan asphalt paving company was sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay a $500,000 fine for his role in a years-long bid-rigging conspiracy.
Daniel Israel, 63, who served as president and part-owner of Pontiac-based Asphalt Specialists LLC (ASI), pleaded guilty in October 2023 to conspiring with Al's Asphalt Paving Co. and employees from those companies to "rig bids in each other's favor," the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday, May 23.
Israel participated in the conspiracy from 2013 to 2018. Court documents show the co-conspirators coordinated bid prices to ensure preselected companies won certain contracts, submitting intentionally high or noncompetitive bids to mislead customers into believing the process was fair, according to the Justice Department.
More: How asphalt firm fixed the bids to fix the damn roads — and got caught
'Economic crime — like bid rigging — is no less harmful than violent crime,' said Omeed Assefi of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division in a statement. 'Both inflict deep, lasting harm on our communities and disenfranchise those who believe in the American dream. As the defendant admitted, he conspired to eliminate competition to further enrich himself and his accomplices."
Israel is one of seven individuals and three companies charged in the ongoing federal antitrust investigation, which has yielded over $8.2 million in criminal fines.
ASI and another former executive and part-owner, Bruce Israel, also pleaded guilty in January 2024 for his role in the conspiracy. ASI was sentenced to pay $6.5 million in August 2024. Al's Asphalt and two of its executives entered guilty pleas in 2024.
Nour Rahal is a trending and breaking news reporter. Email her: nrahal@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @nrahal1.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ex-Pontiac asphalt executive gets 6 months, $500K fine for bid rigging
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
43 minutes ago
- The Hill
Puerto Rico is Trump's perfect partner in reshoring
President Trump recently signed an executive order to bring pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the U.S. by streamlining the process for the Food and Drug Administration to approve pharmaceutical manufacturing plants. This is the latest in the Trump administration's agenda to protect national security and create American jobs by promoting the reshoring of critical supply chains that Americans rely on every day. These efforts are coupled with international tariffs to encourage domestic manufacturing. Reshoring pharmaceutical manufacturing is not only dire for American national security, but it could have resounding economic impacts across the country. One U.S. jurisdiction that is ready and in a perfect position to partner in this effort is Puerto Rico, where pharmaceutical manufacturing is already a more than $50 billion industry. With complementary efforts underway in Congress and on the island, the White House should look to Puerto Rico as America's pharmaceutical powerhouse while not trapping the island in its current territory status by hindering a future transition to statehood that would further boost the island's manufacturing ability. As a territory, the island is part of the U.S. customs zone and is not subject to U.S. tariffs, and everything that is made in Puerto Rico is 'Made in the USA.' Yet, that same territory status has limited Puerto Rico's economic development by creating persistent uncertainty, underinvestment and an unequal playing field for economic competition. The territory status is unpopular on the island, and Puerto Rican voters have voted in favor of statehood four consecutive times, most recently last November. Trump and Congress have the opportunity of a generation to leverage the pharmaceutical infrastructure and workforce in Puerto Rico to achieve their agenda while also turbocharging the economy on the island, and they have the perfect ally in Puerto Rico to do it with — the island's Republican Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón. González-Colón is leading an ambitious agenda to reshape the national narrative about the island and its people — and ultimately achieve statehood for Puerto Rico. Aligning with the Trump administration's vision to reshore advanced manufacturing of critical products, she issued an executive order in late March and reached out to top White House officials to offer Puerto Rico's well-established, yet currently underutilized, manufacturing capacity as an economic engine to help grow American prosperity. González-Colón's executive order promotes the relocation of overseas manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and other products to Puerto Rico. Much like Trump's executive order, it eliminates barriers and streamlines the process for businesses to move to the island. This action is complementary to the Medical Manufacturing, Economic Development and Sustainability Act, which was recently reintroduced and incentivizes pharmaceutical manufacturing on the island and throughout economically distressed zones across the United States. The bill is designed to attract business to the island in a way that invests in the people of Puerto Rico. It does this by providing an incentive for medical manufacturing facilities to relocate to economically distressed zones, with an incentive dependent on the number of jobs created to ensure money is flowing back into communities. The incentive itself is based on economic factors and applies to communities throughout the United States — an appropriately wide scope that comports with Trump's strong desire to reshore large amounts of production in a short time frame. By tethering the tax credits to what manufacturers invest directly into wages, salaries and real middle-class benefits, the proposal creates good-paying, quality American jobs. Reshoring to Puerto Rico would mean that critical pharmaceuticals and medical devices, as well as other products that are currently manufactured overseas in China and other nations, would now be produced in America. This would create thousands of well-paying manufacturing jobs that Puerto Rico needs to turbocharge the modest economic progress it's made in recent years. The increased consumer demand on the island would help boost the approximately $70 billion in annual interstate commerce, resulting in more jobs and profits stateside. Puerto Rico is a natural partner in reshoring the medical and pharmaceutical manufacturing industry within U.S. borders. The island's leaders share in the White House's vision of a more prosperous pharmaceutical manufacturing industry and are working to ensure reshoring efforts do not trap Puerto Rico in its current territory status but instead enable it to reach its full potential as an engine of economic growth and prosperity as a future state of our Union. Manufacturing makes America stronger, especially when it lifts up communities and the hard-working American citizens that make 'Made in the USA' a possibility, including those in Puerto Rico.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Muhammad Sinwar, a Top Military Leader of Hamas, Is Dead, Israel Says
The Israeli military announced on Saturday night that it had killed Muhammad Sinwar, one of Hamas's top military commanders in Gaza, during airstrikes this month that targeted the vicinity of a hospital in southern Gaza. Hamas did not immediately respond to the claim of Mr. Sinwar's death. During the war in Gaza, the Palestinian armed group has largely not confirmed the killing of its commanders in the moment, only announcing their demise weeks or even months later, if at all. Mr. Sinwar's death would be a blow to Hamas. The brother of Yahya Sinwar, the former Hamas leader killed by Israel last year, he was one of the most powerful Hamas leaders in Gaza still alive after nearly 20 months of war with Israel. But Mr. Sinwar's death may not immediately change Hamas's strategy or operations, analysts said. Since the war began more than a year and a half ago, Israel has targeted and killed a number of Hamas's top leaders, only to see the group continue its insurgency war against Israel in Gaza. This month, Israeli aircraft struck an underground compound near the European Hospital, close to the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, where Mr. Sinwar had recently been present, according to the Israeli military. At the time, Israeli officials said privately that they had been targeting Mr. Sinwar, but they did not mention him in their announcement of the strikes. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Hamas responds to ceasefire proposal, reiterates demands
Hamas said it has submitted a response to the latest ceasefire proposal by U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff to mediators on Saturday, reiterating its key demands. Hamas' key demands are "to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and ensure the continuous flow of humanitarian aid," according to the group. The group's demands remain the same as in previous ceasefire negotiations. Hamas said its hostage exchange proposal would involve the release of 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead hostages, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces have killed at least 60 Palestinians and injured another 284 across the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health said Saturday. At least 54,381 people in Gaza have been killed and 124,054 have been wounded, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, since the war began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage. At least 20 hostages remain in Hamas captivity. The White House said Thursday that it had submitted an Israeli-approved ceasefire proposal to Hamas. MORE: Gazan children wait for food in long lines as starvation looms "I can confirm that Special Envoy Witkoff and the president submitted a cease fire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed and supported. Israel signed off on this proposal before it was sent to Hamas," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday. Israel's defense minister warned Hamas to take the deal or be destroyed. "The Hamas murderers will now be forced to choose: to accept the terms of the "Witkoff Deal" for the release of the hostages - or to be destroyed," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Friday. Katz added, "The IDF continues its activity in Gaza with full force, striking and dismantling Hamas outposts, while evacuating the local population from every combat zone and attacking the area from the air, land and sea on an unprecedented scale for maximum protection of our soldiers in preparation for the entry of the forces maneuvering in each area and during the maneuver." This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. Hamas responds to ceasefire proposal, reiterates demands originally appeared on
