金枪鱼行业现操纵价格丑闻

价格操纵问题今年第二次震撼了食品行业——食品公司Bumble Bee Foods首席执行官克里斯托弗·利舍夫斯基因涉嫌在包装海洋食品领域排除竞争而面临刑事指控。

利舍夫斯基在法庭上被指操纵价格。此前StarKist Tuna三名高管曾遭到类似指控，其中一名负责销售的高级副总裁已于去年认罪。

美国助理司法部长马肯·德尔拉希姆在一份声明中表示：“美国消费者应该拥有自由的商业环境，而不是受到操纵的价格，因此司法部不会容忍本次诉讼中的犯罪行为。”

去年对此案进行审理时，Bumble Bee Foods另外两位高管已对自己操纵价格一事供认不讳，该公司也已同意支付2500万美元罚金。已就此调查了两年的政府官员指出，2010年11月到2013年12月，利舍夫斯基和其他金枪鱼公司一同设定了金枪鱼罐头的价格。

对金枪鱼制品公司操纵价格的指控最早出现在大约两年前。2015年，Bumble Bee Foods正在考虑跟Chicken of the Sea合并时（此事最后以失败告终），一家食杂合作社把这两大金枪鱼产品制造商告上了法院，称它们合谋操纵金枪鱼价格。

这是今年的第二起价格操纵丑闻。1月份，一些食品经销商对Tyson、Pilgrim’s Pride及其他15家大型鸡肉生产商提起诉讼，指控它们在八年时间里操纵鸡肉价格。（财富中文网）

译者：Charlie

审校：夏林

Price-fixing allegations have rocked the food world for the second time this year, as the CEO of Bumble Bee Foods is facing criminal charges for allegedly working to eliminate competition in the packaged seafood industry.

Christopher Lischewski has been charged with one count of price fixing. That follows earlier similar charges against three StarKist tuna executives. One, who served as senior vice president for sales, pleaded guilty last year.

“American consumers deserve free enterprise, not fixed prices, so the department will not tolerate crimes like the one charged in today’s indictment,” said assistant attorney general Makan Delrahim in a statement.

Two other Bumble Bee executives have already pleaded guilty to price-fixing, and the company itself agreed to pay a $25 million fine for the same offense last year. Government officials, who have been investigating the charges for two years, say Lischewski conspired with other tuna companies between November 2010 and December 2013 to set the price for canned tuna.

Charges of price-fixing in the tuna world have been around for years. In 2015, when Bumble Bee was exploring a merger with Chicken of the Sea (a deal that ultimately fell apart), a grocery cooperative filed suit against the major manufacturers, accusing them of collaborating on setting the price of tuna.

The tuna tussle is the second price-fixing scandal of 2018. In January, food distributors sued Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride and 15 other large chicken suppliers, accusing them of fixing the price of chicken over an eight-year period.