Opinion ID: 149112
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Ruggieri's Testimony

Text: Luigi Ruggieri was an officer of Asea Brown Boveri Ltd., the parent company of Sadelmi U.S.A., Inc. (SUSA), the company that received Contract 29. Over the objection of the defendants, the district court allowed Ruggieri to testify about a conversation he had with his subordinate, Giovanni Greselin, about a meeting between Greselin and Peter Schmidt, the Holzmann executive who hosted the conspiracy meetings in Frankfurt. In his testimony, Ruggieri stated that Schmidt met with Greselin and a gentleman from Harbert in Frankfurt. There, Schmidt proposed to Greselin that they agree on which of their companies would bid lower for Contract 29, with compensation going to the losing bidder. Ruggieri also testified, without objection from the defendants, to his personal involvement in the conspiracy. He said that he saw, then shredded, a document signed by Greselin outlining the bid rigging between Harbert-Jones and SUSA. Ruggieri then authorized Greselin to go ahead with the agreement and pay Harbert-Jones a loser's fee in cash. Ruggieri's testimony dealt only with the bid rigging of Contract 29. We have already dismissed all the claims against the defendants regarding Contract 29 for violation of the statute of limitations. See supra at 24-25. The defendants do not argue that the part of Ruggieri's testimony to which they objecthis testimony about the conversation between Greselin and Schmidttainted the jury's consideration of the remaining claims under Contract 20A or provided the only link between any one of the defendants and the conspiracy involving 20A. Therefore the defendants' arguments regarding the admissibility of Ruggieri's testimony under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E) are moot. We need not address them here.