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.
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.
