The former CEO of Bumble Bee Foods will serve prison time for his role in a canned tuna price fixing scandal.
Christopher Lischewski has been sentenced to 40 months in jail and fined $100,000.
Lischewski was convicted of participating in a conspiracy to fix prices of canned tuna after a four-week trial late last year.
The court found Lischewski was a leader or organizer of the conspiracy and that it affected over $600 million 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 U.S. 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.”
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.
Three other executives were also charged in the investigation. According to the Justice Department, they pleaded guilty and testified in Lischewski’s trial.
In November, Bumble Bee Foods announced it had filed for bankruptcy and put itself up for sale to help reduce the debt burden caused by “recent and significant legal challenges.”
“It’s been a challenging time for our company but today’s actions allow us to move forward with minimal disruption to our day-to-day operations,” said Jan Tharp, president and CEO of Bumble Bee, in a statement at the time.
Bumble Bee is the U.S. affiliate of Connor Bros. Clover Leaf Seafoods, which has operations in Blacks Harbour and an office in Saint John.
The company has said it is their intent for all U.S. and Canadian operations to continue uninterrupted.
