Two Illinois-Based Flooring Execs Plead Guilty in Bid-Rigging Scheme

Two Illinois-based commercial flooring executives pled guilty to a nearly decade-long conspiracy to rig bids and fix prices for flooring products and services, the Department of Justice announced.

Between 2009 and June 22, 2017, Robert Patrey Jr. and Kenneth Smith conspired to suppress and eliminate competition in the commercial flooring market by agreeing with other individuals to submit complementary bids, according to plea agreements filed in the U.S. District Court in Chicago. Both defendants are cooperating with the DOJ’s ongoing investigation into price fixing in the Chicago commercial flooring market.

“The recent guilty pleas are the latest in the government’s investigation, and they won’t be the last,” stated Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim.

The DOJ did not release the name of the flooring company Patrey and Smith worked for, but the Dupage County Chronicle reported that both men are listed on the website for Vortex Commercial Flooring. The company’s president, Delmar Church Jr., is also a co-defendant in the case, according to the Chronicle. Church has a change of plea hearing scheduled for April 1.

The DOJ has issued several charges in its bid-rigging investigation, with the first corporate charge going against PCI FlorTech Inc. in August 2019. The Illinois-based flooring company pled guilty to having a role in a long-running bid-rigging and price-fixing conspiracy in the Chicago area and agreed to pay a $150,000 criminal fine.

The DOJ has also charged Illinois-based flooring executives Michael Gannon and Carter Brett with bid-rigging conspiracies during its crackdown. Brett pled guilty to bid-rotation conspiracy and money-laundering conspiracy at the beginning of March, according to the DOJ.

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