A former electronics executive from Taiwan was charged on Tuesday with taking part in a global price-fixing conspiracy involving cathode ray tubes (CRTs), the US Justice Department said.
A federal grand jury in San Francisco indicted former Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管) chairman and chief executive Lin Cheng-yuan (林鎮源) for allegedly fixing prices of CRTs used in computer monitors and televisions, the department said.
Lin, also known as CY Lin, was the first person charged in connection with an antitrust division investigation into the CRT industry.
He is already under indictment in connection with a price-fixing case involving Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panels.
Lin, another former executive at Chunghwa and an executive of South Korea’s LG Display Co Ltd were indicted a week ago for allegedly taking part in a global conspiracy to fix prices of LCD panels.
In the latest indictment, the Justice Department accused Lin of “conspiring with others to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing prices, reducing output and allocating market shares” of color display tubes (CDTs) and color picture tubes (CPTs) between 1997 and 2003.
CDTs and CPTs are both types of CRTs. CDTs are used in computer monitors while CPTs are used in color TVs.
“This conspiracy harmed countless Americans who purchased computers and televisions using cathode ray tubes sold at fixed prices,” said Scott Hammond, acting assistant attorney general in the antitrust division.
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