Kelley said the case is the largest involving employees of suppliers charged with helping a company inflate profits.
Several of those charged were scheduled to plead guilty Thursday, but the proceedings were put off while both sides digest the impact of Wednesday's U.S. Supreme Court decision that found the sentencing guidelines unconstitutional, defense lawyers said.
Bailin, Nettle, Hannigan, Redgate and Rogers have agreed to settle with the SEC, according to a press release.
Robinson's lawyer, Isabelle A. Kirshner, said her client "got caught up in a corrupt atmosphere created by Ahold and its executives." Lawyers for Nettle and Rogers said their clients were sorry for their actions. Lawyers for the other defendants either declined to comment or did not return phone calls.
Most of those charged worked for relatively small companies, and all nine were seeking to maintain good relationships with a huge client -- U.S. Foodservice is one of the nation's largest distributors, Kelley said.
Nettle and Rogers are former employees of General Mills Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc., respectively. Spokesmen for those companies said they were cooperating with the government and had found no evidence that the alleged fraud spread beyond the two men.
Investigators are looking into whether former U.S. Foodservice chief executive James L. Miller was involved in the alleged fraud, sources familiar with the investigation have said. He has not been charged. Kelley said yesterday that his office is "looking upstream and downstream for other participants" but would not comment specifically on Miller.
Last week Ahold disclosed that a Netherlands court ordered an inquiry into how the company accounted for joint ventures and its acquisition and supervision of U.S. Foodservice. Kelley said that while his office is cooperating with Dutch authorities, the two investigations are independent.
Ahold's American depositary receipts closed Thursday at $8.05 on the New York Stock Exchange, down 3 cents. The stock was trading above $11 in February 2003 before the accounting scandal was disclosed and then dropped below $4.
