Former Bumble Bee CEO Sentenced To Prison For Fixing Prices Of Canned Tuna
justice.gov | June 16, 2020 | DOJChristopher Lischewski, former Chief Executive Officer and President of Bumble Bee Foods LLC, was sentenced to serve 40 months in jail and pay a $100,000 criminal fine for his leadership role in a three-year antitrust conspiracy to fix prices of canned tuna, the Department of Justice announced.
Lischewski was charged on May 16, 2018, in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in San Francisco. After a four-week trial in late 2019, he was convicted on the single count of participating in a conspiracy to fix prices of canned tuna. In imposing Lischewski’s 40-month prison sentence, the Court found that Lischewski was a leader or organizer of the conspiracy and that it affected over $600 million dollars of canned tuna sales.
“The sentence imposed today will serve as a significant deterrent in the C-suite and the boardroom,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Executives who cheat American consumers out of the benefits of competition will be brought to justice, particularly when their antitrust crimes affect the most basic necessity, food. Today’s sentence reflects the serious harm that resulted from the multi-year conspiracy to fix prices of canned tuna.”
Why just one CEO?
Presumably he worked with others to fix prices.
Reminds me of Jubal Harshaw in Stranger in a Strange Land talking about how ridiculous it was for a guy to be convicted of giving a bribe that the other guy was not convicted of receiving. (or contrariwise).
It’s a funny old world.
exactly what I was thinking – says he was conspiring…WITH WHOM? you can’t just unilaterally decide to fix prices, you have to have coordination with most of not all other players in your industry.
still, looking forward to more tuna salad!`
Women and Damncats hardest hit.
Waiting for his take.
This whole thing sounds fishy to me…
I very rarely eat tuna, but I did think the price was high when I looked at it.
Monster! Should have been hanged. Think about the kittens!
The national pastime of Japan is tuna buying. They compete to see who will pay the most for a tuna. A dead tuna. In Japan a euphemism for cat is anonymous bidder. Be less like Japan.
From: The Complete History of Asian restaurant dumpsters.
Throw ‘em in the can, I say…
And throw away the opener!
Just another example of the government stifling competition. The government has exclusive rights to price fix.