SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) – Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson is suing the canned tuna industry over a price-fixing conspiracy that led to a nine-figure criminal penalty for one of the defendants.
Ferguson says the agreement drove up the prices of packaged tuna for more than a decade and has cost his state’s residents more than $6 million. His June 2 lawsuit in King County Superior Court names Starkist and the former CEO of Bumble Bee Foods as defendants.
The allegations aren’t new, as the companies have been facing litigation following facts that were revealed during a federal investigation. In December, a jury found Christopher Lischewski, the former CEO named as defendant, guilty of a scheme that involved other executives at StarKist and Chicken of the Sea.
“We cannot have a free market when corporate titans are able to tip the scales to their own bank accounts,” Ferguson said. “Washingtonians lost millions as a result of this corporate greed. I intend to get that back for them.”
StarKist has pleaded guilty to criminal price-fixing and was ordered to pay a $100 million penalty. Lischewski is facing 10 years in jail.