Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • CEO Issue
    • Diversity
    • Best Places to Work
      • 2022 winners
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
      • 2022 class
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
News
November 18, 1996 01:00 AM

POPOLI RELEASED ON BOND, REBUTS CHARGES

Bruce Vernyi PLASTICS NEWS STAFF
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    Thomas E. Popoli, owner and chief executive officer of Nylon Engineering Resins Inc. of Fort Myers, Fla., said Nov. 11 he ex-pects to be exonerated on 27 charges of customs, wire and mail fraud. Popoli was arrested Oct. 30 in Fort Myers by U.S. Customs Service agents. He was arraigned Nov. 4, and released from jail Nov. 6 after posting a $500,000, secured bond, according to Robert P. Barclift, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers Division.

    In response to the charges, Popoli issued a statement Nov. 11 that said he believes the investigation into his business ``originated [with] two former, disgruntled employees who were sued for unfair and competitive trade practices, and ... prodded along by Hoechst Celanese, with whom Nylon Engineering and [I] have been involved in a hard-fought civil lawsuit for a number of years.''

    The disgruntled employees are Joseph Herring and Robert S. Popoli, Thomas Popoli's son, whom Popoli sued after they left his firm. Thomas Popoli later dropped that suit, according to Marc Nurik, Thomas Popoli's Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based lawyer, who was interviewed by telephone Nov. 13.

    The civil lawsuit Popoli referred to in his statement was filed in 1994 by Hoechst Celanese Corp. of Summit, N.J. Hoechst alleged that Popoli and his company infringed on Hoechst's Celcon trademarks and improperly sold acetal resins labeled with Hoechst's tradename. Popoli previously was an employee and an exclusive distributor for Hoechst Hostaform, a predecessor company to Hoechst Celanese.

    Popoli responded to Hoechst's civil charges by filing a countersuit for slander in which he is seeking $10 million in damages.

    Hoechst's civil suit and Po-poli's countersuit are pending.

    ``Nylon Engineering recently refused a settlement proposal offered through Hoechst Cela-nese attorneys to end the civil litigation,'' Popoli said.

    ``The offer was without substance relative to Nylon Engin-eering Resin's defamation coun-terclaim,'' he added.

    Beth Brier, associate general counsel for Hoechst, said her company made no recent settlement offer to Popoli and his company in the civil suit.

    In his statement, Popoli repeated his charges that Hoechst is pursuing the civil litigation in an effort to control U.S. markets for acetal resins, and cited a Novem-ber 1995 price-fixing investigation launched by the European Com-mission. The EC investigation had agents for the EC raiding offices of four large, multinational chemical firms, including Hoechst AG, the parent of Hoechst Celanese.

    An EC spokesman said a year ago the agents were seeking information on cartel activities and price fixing. That investigation is pending.

    ``Nylon Engineering contends that Hoechst's lawsuit to date has been nothing more than a bold-face attempt to remove its do-mestic competition and continue its contrivance of the U.S. market prices,'' Popoli's statement said.

    ``Now, Nylon Engineering claims Hoechst and the United States Attorney's Office have engaged in a prosecutorial tag-team attempt to do what [Hoechst] has not been able to do in civil court: Decimate the small, privately held, Fort Myers-based company,'' Popoli added.

    In a prepared statement issued Nov. 14, Barclift said the investigation by the U.S. Customs Ser-vice and the U.S. Attorney's Office and a grand jury ``are in no way driven by Hoechst Celanese, nor are they interdependent in any way on the commencement, continuation or outcome of civil litigation'' between Hoechst and Popoli and his company.

    Brier, meanwhile, said Hoechst continues to prosecute its civil-suit claims and expects an expeditious ruling.

    Popoli has stated steadfastly that he and his firm legally purchased acetal resins from Taiwan Engineering Plastics Co. of Taiwan, a firm in which Hoechst holds a 75 percent stake, legally imported those resins to the United States, and legally sold them. Nurik said if there were any irregularities in the way Popoli's company paid customs duties they were not intentional or caused or directed by Popoli.

    Popoli is due back in court Dec. 2 for a pretrial hearing, and Nurik and Barclift said they expect a trial to be held early in 1997.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Poly-America neighbors sue for $7.8M after 2020 fire, allege respiratory damage
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Industry's newest concern: Public opposition to plastics recycling
    2
    PepsiCo cuts bottle design costs, time with 3D printed mold inserts
    3
    Unsupervised worker blamed for overriding alarms in Michigan chemical spill
    4
    More volatility for North American PS, ABS resin prices
    5
    AdvanSix sees strong sales in Q2, expects healthy demand for nylon in US
    SIGN UP FOR TO RECEIVE THESE EMAILS AND ENEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Diversity
        • Best Places to Work
          • 2022 winners
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
          • 2022 class
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified