A second executive at US seafood group Bumble Bee Foods, Kenneth Worsham, has agreed to plead guilty for his role in a conspiracy to fix the prices of packaged seafood sold in the country, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said yesterday (21 December).
Worsham, senior vice-president of trade marketing at Bumble Bee, together with co-conspirators, agreed to fix the prices of packaged seafood, such as canned tuna, from as early as 2011 until about 2013, according to a one-count felony charge filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco.
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The DOJ said in addition to Worsham’s guilty plea, which is subject to court approval, he has agreed to pay a criminal fine and cooperate with the division’s ongoing investigation.
According to the charge, Worsham and co-conspirators negotiated prices and issued price announcements for packaged seafood in accordance with the agreements they reached.
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Renata Hesse, Acting assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s antitrust division, said the charge sent “a strong signal that high-ranking executives responsible for fixing the price of shelf-stable tuna must be held accountable”.
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By GlobalData“We will continue our work to root out the collusion among packaged seafood companies that targeted American consumers,” Hesse said.
