Bumble Bee Pleads Guilty To Price-Fixing, Will Pay $25 Million Fine

That must really sting.

Bumble Bee Foods, LLC agreed to plead guilty and pay a $25 million criminal fine for conspiring to “fix, raise and maintain prices of packaged seafood” from 2011 to 2013, the U.S. Justice Department said Monday.

The feds say the fine will increase to $81.5 million in the event that Bumble Bee, long the subject of acquisition rumors, is sold. Bumble Bee has also agreed to cooperate with the Antitrust Division’s ongoing investigation and the plea agreement is subject to court approval.

More Charges Down The Road?

Bumble Bee said it takes the matter "very seriously" and has fully cooperated during the investigation.

"We accept full responsibility for needing to earn back any lost trust in our Company and will do so by acting with integrity and transparency in every way we operate our business," Bumble Bee General Counsel Jill Irvin said in a statement.

Two executives with the tuna giant had previously agreed to plead guilty to related charges.

“Today’s charge is the third to be filed — and the first to be filed against a corporate defendant — in the Antitrust Division’s ongoing investigation into price fixing among some of the largest suppliers of packaged seafood,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Andrew Finch of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.

“The division, along with our law enforcement colleagues, will continue to hold these companies and their executives accountable for conduct that targeted a staple in American households.”

The division did not elaborate on the degree to which Bumble Bee fixed prices.

Et Tu, Tyson?

In a similar development in another food sector dominated by a small number of companies, Tyson Foods, Inc. TSN and Pilgrim's Pride Corporation PPC both confirmed this week the Florida Attorney General’s Office had sought information from them about price fixing.

Attorney General Pam Bondi's office has opened an investigation into allegations made in civil lawsuits that Tyson and other chicken processors conspired to fix prices, said Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson, according to Reuters.

"We continue to believe the antitrust claims that prompted the Florida AG to open this investigation are without merit but we are cooperating with the Florida AG's investigation," Mickelson said.

Pilgrim's Pride also received "an inquiry from Florida AG, similar to other chicken companies," spokesman Cameron Bruett told Reuters.

Tyson previously had confirmed that it was under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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