The U.S. Department of Justice today announced executives from LG and Chunghwa Picture Tubes will plead guilty and serve federal jail time in the United States related to a price fixing conspiracy that was busted last year.
In November, LG, Sharp, and Chunghwa pleaded guilty to price fixing, with a $400 million fine imposed upon LG.
Chang Suk "C.S." Chung, a Korean LG executive, along with Chieng-Hon "Frank" Lin, Chih-Chun "C.C." Liu and Hsueh-Lung "Brian" Lee, arranged and participated in the price fixing scheme "from on or about Sept. 21, 2001, to on or about June 1, 2006," according to the government.
"These cases involve the first Taiwanese nationals to face imprisonment in the United States for an antitrust offense," Acting Assistant Attorney General Deborah Garza said in a statement. "The Department of Justice is committed to holding accountable all conspirators who harm American consumers, no matter where they live or where they commit the crime."
Lin will reportedly pay $50,000 and serve nine months in federal prison, with the three remaining executives to likely receive prison sentences ranging from six-to-nine months each.
The four executives have agreed to serve jail time, pay criminal fines and help the federal government during the rest of its investigation. The plea agreements must receive final approval by the US District Court in San Francisco, though it's unlikely the court will deny the agreements.
They are accused of meeting together and discussing the price of LCD technology, which led them to charge for LCD monitors and TVs at a predetermined price agreed upon by both parties.
The companies worked together to sell LCDs to Dell, Apple, Motorola, and other companies -- the higher prices were then put upon the consumers.
The US DoJ has taken a stronger stance against antitrust matters, especially related to price fixing by biotech and tech companies operating in the U.S. But considering the amount of money each company made while the price fixing scheme was in place, the fines and jail time likely isn't a strong deterrent from future tech price fixing.
