Samsung VP Gets U.S. Jail Sentence

A vice president of the Samsung Electronics America admitted to price fixing DRAM and agreed to imprisonment, the U.S. Justice Department said September 21.

The Justice Department said that the vice president Thomas Quinn in the semiconductor marketing department pled guilty to price fixing DRAM from 1999 to 2002 and agreed to the imprisonment of eight months and the fine of $250,000.

Thomas Barnett, assistant secretary of the Justice Department, said, “Imprisonment is the most effective antitrust measure. This punishment will be a clear message that price fixing will never go unpunished.”

The number of people prosecuted rose to 13 from four companies such as Hynix, Micron and Infineon. Among them 12 people were punished by imprisonment of seven to eight months. Samsung Electronics admitted to price fixing last November and was fined $300 million.

sechepa@donga.com