"Florida will not tolerate price gouging by anyone," said Bronson.
The investigation stems from events following Governor Crist's declaration of a state of emergency prior to Hurricane Ike. The two agencies received thousands of price gouging [image-nocss] complaints on gasoline prices.
"Our investigation will continue to determine exactly what led to the extraordinary increases in the price of gasoline," said McCollum.
"Can you imagine almost $5 gasoline just a few weeks ago and now it's down to $1.80? I find that kind of hard to believe that if it's really worth $5 it could have dropped this fast. So it tells me that somebody was manipulating the system after an emergency was called and we take that seriously," Bronson told The Capitol News last week.
Morgan Stanley owns TransMontaigne and purchases gasoline for the company. TransMontaigne, in turn, supplies wholesale gasoline through distributors to stations throughout the state of Florida, including McKenzie Oil Co., a retail gasoline station in Tallahassee. Jobbers are the contracted drivers of tanker lines.
A review of McKenzie's invoices by state investigators revealed that the prices charged were a result of the wholesale charges paid to TransMontaigne. Further review determined Morgan Stanley sets the contracted prices of gasoline to its wholesale suppliers, including TransMontaigne.
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