NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - De Beers has agreed to plead guilty in a decade-long price-fixing case in a move that could allow the world's biggest diamond producer to return to the U.S. market after a nearly 50-year absence, a news report said Saturday.

The New York Times, citing a court official and a lawyer involved in the case, said the South African-based company is expected to plead guilty Tuesday in federal court in Ohio to settle criminal charges that it violated federal antitrust laws by fixing the price for industrial diamonds.

The company faces a maximum fine of $10 million, the report said, quoting Keith Mayton, a clerk in federal court in Columbus, Ohio, where the case is being heard.

The settlement agreement, following months of negotiations, will allow the 124-year-old company to re-enter the United States, the world's most lucrative market for diamonds, the report said.

The case against De Beers, based in Johannesburg, was filed in 1994 after a three-year federal investigation, according to the newspaper. De Beers was charged along with General Electric Co. (GE: Research, Estimates) with violating the Sherman Antitrust Act by fixing the price of industrial diamonds.

But after a five-week trial, District Court Judge George C. Smith threw out the criminal charges against GE, the report said.

Apparent weaknesses in the government's case had discouraged De Beers from seeking a settlement, the newspaper said.

But the company's desire to expand into new markets, particularly the United States, as well as changes in the diamond business eventually prompted De Beers to negotiate the settlement, it added.