Stolt-Nielsen S.A.

One of Norway's most prominent shipowners, Jacob Stolt-Nielsen, has been embroiled in a criminal cartel scandal for years. Now it's being reported that his company may have profited by not informing other shareholders that Stolt-Nielsen’s immunity in the criminal case of fixing chater rates had been revoked.

Jacob Stolt-Nielsen remains under investigation.

Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group sold off 7.7 million of its own shares instocklisted Stolt-Nielsen SA in 2004, after the immunity had been suspended, without informing the market about the change in immunity status.

Stolt-Nielsen officials continue to insist the immunity remained in place at that time. Court documents and interviews with US officials claim otherwise.

US anti-trust authorities cracked down hard on Stolt-Nielsen and two other Norwegian shipowning companies that admitted fixing rates on their chemical tankers. Executives at JO Tankers and Odfjell ended up serving jail terms, and those companies paid large fines.

Stolt-Nielsen initially won immunity when it said it would cooperate with the US authorities and cease all cartel operations. The authorities later determined, however, that Stolt-Nielsen officials lied and kept on charging the high cartel rates for several months.

That led the US to revoke Stolt-Nielsen's immunity, as early as April 2003, reports Dagens Næringsliv. But Stolt-Nielsen protested and didn't inform the market, and then sold 7.7 million Stolt-Nielsen shares for NOK 714 million in January 2004.

Stolt-Nielsen has challenged the suspension of its immunity in court in the US, winning at the local level last year but then losing on appeal earlier this year.

US authorities continue to investigate Stolt-Nielsen. The company has since vacated its former US offices near New York and Jacob Stolt-Nielsen has sold his longtime home there and left the country.
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