A former executive from HannStar Display has agreed to plead guilty and to serve jail time in the United States for participating in a global conspiracy to fix the price of TFT-LCD panels, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday (October 27).

According to a one-count felony charge filed today in US District Court in San Francisco, Jui Hung "Sam" Wu conspired with others to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing the prices of TFT-LCD panels. Wu, a resident of Taiwan and the former executive director of global sales and marketing of Taiwan-based HannStar, participated in the conspiracy from as early as September 21, 2001 until on or about January 31, 2006, the department said.

Under his plea agreement, which is subject to court approval, Wu has agreed to serve seven months in jail, to pay a US$20,000 criminal fine and to assist the department in its ongoing TFT-LCD investigation.

The department charged that Wu participated in a conspiracy in which the participants met and agreed to charge prices of TFT-LCD panels at certain predetermined levels. The participants in that conspiracy also issued price quotations in accordance with the agreements reached and exchanged information on the sales of TFT-LCD panels for the purpose of monitoring adherence to the agreed-upon prices, the department said.

As a result of this investigation, to date, more than US$890 million in criminal fines have been obtained. Including Wednesday's filing, 21 executives and eight companies have been charged in the department's ongoing investigation into price fixing in the LCD industry.

Wu is charged with violating the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a US$1 million fine for individuals. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine, the department said.