Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto announced a $25.03 million multi-state and class action settlement involving a vitamins price fixing conspiracy in violation of federal and state antitrust laws.

The settlement is on behalf of consumers and businesses that purchased certain vitamins between 1988 and 2000 and reside in Nevada or any other of the 22 settling states.

This settlement follows an earlier $225 million settlement reached in 2000 involving the same vitamins but different vitamin manufacturers.

“Many competing vitamin manufacturers agreed to fix the prices of vitamins they sold, which artificially raised those vitamins’ prices,” said Masto.

“This conduct will not be tolerated, especially when essential health products are involved. I am pleased to work with other states to help secure this settlement.”

The vitamins affected by this alleged price fixing conspiracy are: vitamin A, astaxanthin, vitamin B1 (thiamin), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B4 (choline chloride), vitamin B5 (calpan), vitamin B6, vitamin B9 (folic acid), vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamine pharma), beta-carotene, vitamin C, canthaxanthin, vitamin E, and vitamin H (biotin), as well as all blends and forms of these vitamins.

Also included is Premix, a product that contains one or more these vitamins in combination with other substances.

The companies that sold these vitamins and subject to the $25.03 million settlement are: Akzo Nobel Inc.; Bioproducts Incorporated, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc.; Chinook Global Limited and Chinook Group, Inc.; Evonik Degussa GmbH, successor to Degussa AG, and Evonik Degussa Corporation; Lonza AG; Merck KGaA, E. Merck and EM Industries, Inc.; Nepera, Inc.; Sumitomo Chemical America, Inc. and Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.; Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation and Tanabe U.S.A., Inc.; UCB Pharma, Inc.; and, Vertellus Specialties Inc. and Vertellus Chemicals SA.

The states, districts, and commonwealths participating in this settlement are: Arizona, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Attorneys General in these states secured this settlement in conjunction with a class action lawsuit pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

That lawsuit is Philip Richardson et al. v. Akzo Nobel Inc. et al., No. 1:09-cv-02112, which is part of In re Vitamins Antitrust Litigation, No. 1:99-mc-00197-TFH.

A motion for preliminary approval of the settlement has been filed.

Court approval of the settlement is pending.

Once the settlement is approved, businesses in the settling states that indirectly purchased any of the above vitamins between 1988 and 2000 may make a claim to obtain money from the portion of the settlement allocated to businesses.

Given the extraordinary size of affected consumers, each Attorney General will distribute the settlement funds allocated to consumers in their state to government or not-for-profit organizations as approved by the Court.