The resolution of a 10-year-old price-fixing case clears the way for diamond giant De Beers to directly enter the lucrative US market.
De Beers has had to operate through intermediaries since shortly after World War II, when it was first charged with price fixing.
The company pleaded guilty on Tuesday, as expected, to conspiring to fix prices in the US$500 million industrial diamond market in 1991 and 1992 and agreed to pay the maximum US$10 million fine. Industrial diamonds are used to make cutting and polishing tools for a variety of manufacturing and construction equipment.
The company was charged along with General Electric Co in 1994. US District George Smith dismissed the charges against GE, saying the government had failed to prove its case.
The case was filed in Columbus because GE's industrial diamond business was headquartered in suburban Worthington, Ohio.
no probation
Smith did not order any restitution, saying a separate settlement of a civil case totaling US$26 million resolved that issue.
He also did not put the company on probation.
"The court, however, is not inclined to take upon itself the mantle of becoming a regulatory agency overseeing the worldwide distribution of diamonds," he said.
Smith said the company must operate under the regulations of the EU and will be subject to the jurisdiction of US courts if it decides to do business directly in the US.
De Beers general counsel Glenn Turner entered the plea on behalf of the company. He declined to make a statement in court but said afterward that De Beers was happy to have the case resolved.
Turner said, however, that the company has no plans to directly enter the US retail market.
Instead, the decision to enter the plea makes the company legally compliant in all parts of the world where it operates.
De Beers has stores in Tokyo and London.
renewed commitment
"The decision to resolve this matter is consistent with our continuing commitment to creating a new, modern De Beers that is fully prepared to assume its role as a responsible corporate global citizen and to provide leadership at a critical time for the diamond industry," the company said in a statement after the hearing.
De Beers had sales of US$5.5 billion and earnings of US$676 million last year.
The company spends US$180 million on advertising.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique