Former Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) president Ho Jau-yang (何昭陽) has agreed to plead guilty to price-fixing, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a press release on Friday.
Ho became the second Chi Mei official in a week agreeing to plead guilty to charges of fixing the prices of TFT-LCD panels used in computer monitors and notebooks, televisions, mobile phones and other electronic devices.
Chu-hsiang “James” Yang (楊柱祥), a Chi Mei sales executive, pleaded guilty in a plea agreement filed on April 23, the DOJ said.
Under his plea agreement, Ho also agreed to serve 14 months in jail in the US, pay a US$50,000 fine and assist the department in its ongoing price-fixing investigation, the department said, adding that Ho’s plea agreement is subject to court approval.
US District Court Judge Susan Illston on Friday sentenced Yang, who also agreed to assist the investigation, to nine months in jail, with a US$25,000 fine.
Asked to respond to Ho pleading guilty and the court’s verdict for Yang in the same case, company spokesman Eddie Chen (陳彥松) said yesterday that he had no comment. He refused to say if other executives were also involved.
Ho is now chairman of Chi Mei Materials Technology Corp (奇美材料科技), a subsidiary of the Tainan-based Chi Mei Group (奇美集團), which manufactures optoelectronics materials and components for flat panels, while Yang works at Miaoli-based Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子), a merged entity between Chi Mei Optoelectronics, Innolux Display Corp (群創光電) and TPO Displays Corp (統寶光電). The two are among 11 executives from six companies who have been charged in the US government’s price-fixing conspiracy, which has damaged companies including Apple Inc, Dell Inc and Hewlett Packard Co.
So far, Taiwan’s Chi Mei and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (華映), South Korea’s LG Display Co, Sharp Corp, Hitachi Displays Ltd and Epson Imaging Devices Corp from Japan have pleaded guilty with fines totaling more than US$860 million, the DOJ said.
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