WASHINGTON – Following a three-week trial, a federal jury in San
Francisco today convicted an executive of the largest Taiwan liquid
crystal display (LCD) producer for his participation in a worldwide
conspiracy to fix the prices of thin-film transistor-liquid crystal
display (TFT-LCD) panels sold worldwide, the Department of Justice
announced.
Shiu Lung Leung, AU Optronics Corp.’s former senior manager in the
Desktop Display Business Group, was found guilty today in U.S. District
Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, of
participating in a worldwide TFT-LCD price-fixing conspiracy from May
15, 2002 to Dec. 1, 2006.
AU Optronics Corp., based in Hsinchu, Taiwan, and its American
subsidiary, AU Optronics Corp. America, headquartered in Houston, were
found guilty on March 13, 2012, following an eight-week trial. Former AU
Optronics Corp. president Hsuan Bin Chen and former AU Optronics Corp.
executive vice president Hui Hsiung were also found guilty at that time.
A mistrial was declared against Leung after that trial. Today’s verdict
is the result of Leung’s retrial.
“This international price-fixing conspiracy impacted countless American
consumers by raising the price of computer monitors, notebooks and
televisions containing LCD panels,” said Scott D. Hammond, Deputy
Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division’s criminal
enforcement program. “Today’s guilty verdict demonstrates that the
Antitrust Division will continue to hold executives accountable for
crimes that undermine a competitive marketplace.”
The indictment charged that AU Optronics Corp. participated in the
worldwide price-fixing conspiracy from Sept. 14, 2001, to Dec. 1, 2006,
and that its subsidiary joined the conspiracy as early as spring 2003.
Today a jury found that Leung, along with the previously convicted
companies and former executives, was guilty of fixing the prices of LCD
panels sold in the United States. The conspirators fixed the prices of
LCD panels during monthly meetings with their competitors, which were
secretly held in hotel conference rooms, karaoke bars and tea rooms
around Taiwan.
LCD panels are used in computer monitors and notebooks, televisions and
other electronic devices. By the end of the conspiracy, the worldwide
market for LCD panels was valued at $70 billion annually. The LCD
price-fixing conspiracy affected some of the largest computer
manufacturers in the world, including Hewlett Packard, Dell and Apple.
The company and its U.S. subsidiary were sentenced on Sept. 20, 2012,
before Judge Susan Illston, to pay a $500 million criminal fine,
matching the largest fine imposed against a company for violating U.S.
antitrust laws. Chen and Hsiung were each sentenced to serve three years
in prison and to each pay a $200,000 criminal fine.
As a result of this ongoing investigation, eight companies have pleaded
guilty or been convicted to date and have been sentenced to pay criminal
fines totaling more than $1.39 billion. Of the 22 charged executives,
13 have pleaded guilty or have been convicted and seven remain
fugitives.
The executives who have been sentenced have been ordered to serve a combined total of 4,871 days in prison.
The maximum penalty for a Sherman Act violation for an individual is 10
years in prison and a $1 million fine. 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 fine.
Today’s charges are the result of a joint investigation by the
Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Field Office
and the FBI in San Francisco. Anyone with information concerning illegal
conduct in the TFT-LCD industry is urged to call the Antitrust
Division’s San Francisco Field Office at 415-436-6660 or visit
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