The US Department of Justice announced yesterday that Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO), the world’s fourth largest provider of TFT-LCD panels, has been fined $220 million USD for its role in a conspiracy to fix the prices of LCDs.
According to a one-count felony charge filed today in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, CMO colluded to fix the prices of LCD panels sold worldwide from 14 September, 2001 to 1 December, 2006. A plea bargain which remains subject to court approval outlines CMO’s agreement to comply with the remainder of the DOJ’s ongoing investigation.
“Chi Mei carried out the conspiracy by agreeing during meetings, conversations and communications to charge prices of TFT-LCD panels at certain pre-determined levels and issuing price quotations in accordance with the agreements reached,” the DOJ writes. “As a part of the conspiracy, Chi Mei exchanged information on sales of TFT-LCD panels for the purpose of monitoring and enforcing adherence to the agreed-upon prices.”
“Chi Mei, which is based in Tainan, Taiwan, is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act. Each violation carries a maximum fine of $100 million for corporations. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.”
CMO is the latest firm to be nabbed by the DOJ LCD investigation which stretches back into 2008 when LG, Sharp Electronics and Chunghwa Picture Tubes were collectively fined $585 million for their roles in the scheme. In all, six firms and nine executives have been charged and fined more than $860 million.
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