Photo: Diego M. RadzinschiStarKist Hit With $100M Criminal Fine for Antitrust Violations
Owned by South Korean company Dongwon Industries, Starkist, whose U.S. headquarters is in Pittsburgh, agreed to plead guilty to felony antitrust charges last October.
September 11, 2019 at 06:24 PM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Corporate Counsel
A federal judge in San Francisco on Wednesday ordered StarKist Co. to pay a $100 million criminal fine to settle charges that the company conspired with other companies to fix the price of canned tuna sold in the United States.
The company also received a 13-month term of probation.
Owned by South Korean company Dongwon Industries, StarKist, whose U.S. headquarters is in Pittsburgh, agreed to plead guilty to felony antitrust charges last October. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of the Northern District of California ordered the company to pay the statutory maximum fine for its participation in the conspiracy from as early as November 2011 through at least December 2013, rejecting the company's request for a fine reduction, according to the U.S. Department of Justice news release.
"Today's result demonstrates our commitment to enforcing the antitrust laws aggressively against companies that fix prices," said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division in a statement.
In a statement released the same day, StarKist president and CEO Andrew Choe said the company had cooperated with the U.S. Justice Department probe and accepted responsibility. "StarKist is committed to being a socially responsible company and doing the right thing," he added. "We will continue to conduct our business with the utmost transparency and integrity. We have addressed the necessary actions required in this agreement and we will continue to strengthen related compliance best practices."
An ongoing federal antitrust investigation into the packaged-seafood industry conducted by the DOJ's Antitrust Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation resulted in a total of six charges, according to the Justice Department.
In January, StarKist agreed to a $20.5 million settlement with Walmart Inc. to resolve antitrust claims related to a conspiracy with other tuna companies to fix prices on their products.
Bumble Bee Foods pleaded guilty in 2017 to a price-fixing scheme and paid a $25 million fine. The conspiracy came to light when a bid by Thai Union Group Chicken of the Sea to buy San Diego-based Bumble Bee failed in 2015, according to court records, The Associated Press reported.
Read More:
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
An ‘Indiana Jones Moment’: Mayer Brown’s John Nadolenco and Kelly Kramer on the 10-Year Legal Saga of the Bahia Emerald
Litigators of the Week: A Win for Homeless Veterans On the VA's West LA Campus
'The Most Peculiar Federal Court in the Country' Comes to Berkeley Law
The New Federal Sentencing Factor in Downstate New York? Prison Conditions
Trending Stories
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
