Chemicals manufacturer, Crompton Corp. of Middlebury, Conn., has agreed to pay $50 million in fines for its role in an international conspiracy to fix prices in the rubber additives market. The company pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in San Francisco to participating in the scheme. During 2003, the company had $191 million in sales of rubber processing chemicals, which are additives used to improve the strength and durability of rubber products. Crompton also has agreed to pay $7 million in fines as a plea-bargaining deal with Canadian prosecutors. The firm also is under investigation for price fixing by the European Commission. Company officials say they have fired people involved in the scheme, but would not say how many people were terminated or how high up in the company the conspiracy spread.

United Technologies Corp. said employees of its Otis elevator unit may have taken part in an alleged price-fixing scheme where leading elevator companies held secret price-fixing and bid-rigging meetings. European regulators in January said they were investigating possible collusion by elevator makers and conducted unannounced inspections at Otis offices in Europe.

Cargill Inc. recently agreed to settle for $24 million a class-action lawsuit that sought billions of dollars in damages and accused the company of conspiring with two other firms to fix prices of a common food sweetener The original suit was filed in 1995 by 18 companies that manufacture soft drinks, canned and baked goods and confectionary or dairy products. Plaintiffs involved in the suit, accusing the three firms of fixing prices of high fructose corn sugar, a substitute for sugar, include Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc.