Posted on 06/20/2020 2:00:26 PM PDT by ransomnote
Former Bumble Bee CEO Sentenced To Prison For Fixing Prices Of Canned Tuna
Christopher 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.”
“This sentence is the result of our commitment to holding corporations and senior leadership accountable for their actions, whether they operate in the food supply industry or elsewhere,” said FBI San Francisco Division Special Agent in Charge, John F. Bennett. “This brings us closer to our goal; allowing our citizens to be able to purchase food in an unbiased market within an efficient and fair economy, free of corporate greed.”
Bumble Bee pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a $25 million criminal fine. In September, StarKist Co. was sentenced to pay a statutory maximum $100 million criminal fine. In addition to Bumble Bee and StarKist, four executives, including Lischewski, were charged in the investigation. The other three executives pleaded guilty and testified in Lischewski’s trial.
The sentence announced today is a result of the Department’s ongoing investigation into price fixing in the packaged-seafood industry, which is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office and the FBI’s San Francisco Field Office. Anyone with information on price fixing, bid rigging, or other anticompetitive conduct related to the packaged-seafood industry should contact the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office at 415-934-5300, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html, or call the FBI tip line at 415-553-7400. Component(s): Antitrust Division
Sorry, Charlie.
gmta, beat me by that much!
I wonder how the CEO of Weemsco Tuna is doing these days.
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.
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Fix prices on tuna and DOJ throws the book at you. Attempt to frame the elected President and crickets.
I remember when a can of tuna was 19 cents. I’m old.
Tuna salad on white toast. Forever.
Cost of doing business, slap on the wrist, write off, add a few pennies to the cost of a can.
Justice Dept. has been extremely busy of late.
lol....Dolphins seem to be OK.
40 months. Which will be less than 2 years with parole and time off. And it’s probably in one of those tennis court prisons. And $100,000 when he probably got millions in bonuses because of how that boosted profits. Oh yeah that’s a deterrent alright.
So 3 and a 1/3 years and a 100k fine for milking customers of millions...
I should have been a white collar criminal.
Make millions and if you get caught a few grand in fines and some time in club fed.
You can fix a piano but you can’t fix the price of tuna.
He was the CEO and he still can’t tuna a fish.
I remember when a can of tuna was 19 cents. I’m old.
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Uh, I remember when 100 bucks a week was GOOD money....
In 1954 At 14 I was making 30 bucks a week setting pins in a bowling alley, M-F double alley/double shift, then throw in weekends
I always preferred Bumble Bee to StarKist. Each to his own...
Whiny Little Bobby: Mom, the tuna doesn’t taste as good as it used to.
Narrator: Millions of Americans feel the same way little Bobby does, ever since companies came out with dolphin-free tuna.
Bobby: The tuna doesn’t taste as good as it used to.
Narrator: Luckily, not every company shamelessly bends over and drops their pants for each whiny special interest group that comes along and complains about something. When animal rights activists pressured Weemsco into eliminating the dolphin in our tuna, we politely said ‘pfft. Get a life!’ Weemsco Tuna has the great dolphin flavor you grew up with. In fact, it’s chock full of dolphin because now there’s more for us to use. Weemsco Tuna tastes great because it’s a secret blend of tuna, dolphin, shark, medical waste, and dead sea turtles who choked on deflated helium balloons.
Bobby: The tuna doesn’t taste as good as it used to.
Mother: But this is Weemsco Tuna, honey. Try it!
Bobby: Mmmmmm!
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