The current senior vice president of trade marketing of a leading packaged seafood company has agreed to plead guilty for his role in a conspiracy to fix the prices of packaged seafood such as canned tuna sold in the United States, the Department of Justice announced.

According to a one-count felony charge filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, Kenneth Worsham and his co-conspirators agreed to fix the prices of packaged seafood from as early as 2011 until about 2013.  In addition to his guilty plea, which is subject to court approval, Worsham has agreed to pay a criminal fine and cooperate with the division's ongoing investigation.

“The Antitrust Division and its law enforcement partners are once again sending a strong signal that high-ranking executives responsible for fixing the price of shelf-stable tuna must be held accountable,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Renata Hesse of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division.  “We will continue our work to root out the collusion among packaged seafood companies that targeted American consumers.”

According to the charge, Worsham and his co-conspirators discussed the prices of packaged seafood sold in the United States and agreed to fix the prices of those products.  The defendant and his co-conspirators negotiated prices and issued price announcements for packaged seafood in accordance with the agreements they reached.

Today's charge is the second to result from an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into the packaged seafood industry, which is being conducted by the Antitrust Division's San Francisco Office and the FBI's San Francisco Field Office.  Anyone with information on price fixing, bid rigging or other anticompetitive conduct related to the packaged seafood industry should contact the Antitrust Division's Citizen Complaint Center at (888) 647-3258, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html or call the FBI tip line at (415) 553-7400.

Second Defendant Agrees to Plead Guilty in Ongoing Investigation

Worsham InformationAntitrust Division

Topic: Antitrust Updated December 21, 2016

Northern District of California DOJ /16-1517/ December 21, 2016