LG, others to pay $585M for fines for price-fixing LCDs

A unit of LG Electronics, the South Korean-based multinational giant with a major wireless handset business, and other Asian manufacturers agreed to pay $585 million in fines and plead guilty in connection with the Department of Justice and FBI’s probe of price-fixing conspiracies in the sale of liquid crystal display panels for mobile phones and other electronic devices.
The Justice Department said companies like Motorola Inc., Dell Inc. and Apple Inc. were hurt by LCD panel pricing by LG (tagged with a $400 million fine; the second highest ever levied in an antitrust criminal action), Japan’s Sharp Corp. ($120 million) and Taiwan’s Chunghwa ($65 million). Department officials said one of the LCD panel price-fixing conspiracies involved Sharp sales to Motorola Inc. from fall 2005 to mid-2006 for use in Razr mobile phones.
“These price-fixing conspiracies affected millions of American consumers who use computers, cell phones and numerous other household electronics every day,” said Thomas Barnett, assistant attorney general in charge of DoJ’s antitrust division. “These convictions, and the significant fines they carry, should send a clear message that the antitrust division will vigorously investigate and prosecute illegal cartels, regardless of where they are located.”
Barnett, who cleared major wireless mergers since becoming DoJ antitrust chief in February 2006, will resign the post Nov. 19.
The companies’ plea agreements, the result of a joint investigation by the antitrust division’s San Francisco field office and the FBI in San Francisco, are subject to court approval.
“Today’s charges and criminal fines emphasize the commitment of the Department of Justice to crack down on international cartels,” said Attorney General Michael Mukasey.