14 DAY TRIAL // According to the latest news in the industry, four of the current and former executives from LG Display and Chunghwa Picture Tubes have agreed to serve jail terms, after pleading guilty in the United States for participating in a price-fixing conspiracy regarding the sale of TFT-LCD panels. The executives in question are the first to plead guilty in a case involving anti-trust violations in the TFT-LCD industry, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Networkworld reports, in a recent news article, that the aforementioned executives have been charged with price fixing and are in violation of the Sherman Act, according to which a maximum fine of US$1 million and up to 10 years of prison could be given to any individual accused of price fixing.
Apparently, the executives have agreed to pay criminal fines of between US$20,000 and US$50,000 and also serve prison terms ranging from six to nine months. In addition, as part of the plea agreements, the executives will also be obliged to assist the U.S. government in ongoing investigations into the TFT-LCD price-fixing case, according to the Department of Justice.
The defendants pleaded guilty after LG Display, Chunghwa and Sharp have agreed to plead guilty and pay criminal fines, in the same price-fixing case. According to the agreement, LG will have to pay $400 million, while Chunghwa will only be required to pay $65 million, as part of the settlement. According to the Department of Justice, Sharp also pleaded guilty in December and now has to pay a $120 million criminal fine. The company was involved in three different conspiracies connected to pricing fixing for TFT-LCD panels sold to Dell, Apple and Motorola.
LG, Chunghwa and Sharp aren't the only major companies in the IT industry that have been accused of conspiring in order to fix prices of their products. NVIDIA and ATI have also been charged with similar allegations, as both tried to artificially keep the prices high by releasing products at the same time and with similar price tags.