Tim Sullivan
12-17-2003, 11:33 AM
And you guys told me there was no reason for the memory manufacturers
to fix prices.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.asp?source=blq/yhoo&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo&guid=%7B8AA9BC67%2DB7CB%2D4865%2D8FC6%2D80CCA96EFEE0%7D
Micron Tech exec guilty in price-fixing probe
Justice Department investigating chip memory market
By Matt Andrejczak, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 2:19 PM ET Dec. 17, 2003
WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- An executive for Micron Technology pleaded
guilty Wednesday to obstructing a grand-jury investigation into
suspected price fixing in the memory chip market, the Justice
Department said.
Alfred Censullo, a regional sales manager for Micron, was charged in a
San Francisco federal court with altering and concealing documents
about competitor pricing information for dynamic random access memory
products, or DRAMs. Boise, Idaho-based Micron (MU: news, chart,
profile) is the largest DRAM manufacturer in North America.
DRAM components provide high-speed storage and retrieval of electronic
information in personal computers and servers. The products generates
billions of dollars in annual sales.
Shares of Micron traded down 26 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $11.41 in
recent action.
In June 2002, Micron was served a federal grand-jury subpoena seeking
documents related to contacts and communications between DRAM
competitors regarding prices and sales.
After learning of the investigation, the Justice Department said,
Censullo altered his handwritten notes taken from telephone
conversations he had with Micron sales managers in which they
discussed the prices at which the company would sell its DRAM products
and the prices that competitors would charge.
In addition, according to the Justice Department, Censullo removed --
and initially concealed from federal prosecutors -- 14 pages of
competitors' pricing information that he kept in his notebooks.
"The alterations by Censullo were an attempt to disguise the nature,
source, and accuracy of information responsive to the grand-jury
subpoena concerning contacts and communications between DRAM suppliers
relating to the pricing and sale of DRAM," the Justice Department
said. "This evidence was central to the criminal antitrust
investigation."
Censullo handled Micron's sales to customers in upstate New York,
including the server division of IBM. He faces up to 10 years in
prison and a $250,000 fine.
The Justice Department's antitrust division in San Francisco continues
to investigate suspected price fixing in the DRAM market.
Matt Andrejczak is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in Washington.
to fix prices.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.asp?source=blq/yhoo&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo&guid=%7B8AA9BC67%2DB7CB%2D4865%2D8FC6%2D80CCA96EFEE0%7D
Micron Tech exec guilty in price-fixing probe
Justice Department investigating chip memory market
By Matt Andrejczak, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 2:19 PM ET Dec. 17, 2003
WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- An executive for Micron Technology pleaded
guilty Wednesday to obstructing a grand-jury investigation into
suspected price fixing in the memory chip market, the Justice
Department said.
Alfred Censullo, a regional sales manager for Micron, was charged in a
San Francisco federal court with altering and concealing documents
about competitor pricing information for dynamic random access memory
products, or DRAMs. Boise, Idaho-based Micron (MU: news, chart,
profile) is the largest DRAM manufacturer in North America.
DRAM components provide high-speed storage and retrieval of electronic
information in personal computers and servers. The products generates
billions of dollars in annual sales.
Shares of Micron traded down 26 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $11.41 in
recent action.
In June 2002, Micron was served a federal grand-jury subpoena seeking
documents related to contacts and communications between DRAM
competitors regarding prices and sales.
After learning of the investigation, the Justice Department said,
Censullo altered his handwritten notes taken from telephone
conversations he had with Micron sales managers in which they
discussed the prices at which the company would sell its DRAM products
and the prices that competitors would charge.
In addition, according to the Justice Department, Censullo removed --
and initially concealed from federal prosecutors -- 14 pages of
competitors' pricing information that he kept in his notebooks.
"The alterations by Censullo were an attempt to disguise the nature,
source, and accuracy of information responsive to the grand-jury
subpoena concerning contacts and communications between DRAM suppliers
relating to the pricing and sale of DRAM," the Justice Department
said. "This evidence was central to the criminal antitrust
investigation."
Censullo handled Micron's sales to customers in upstate New York,
including the server division of IBM. He faces up to 10 years in
prison and a $250,000 fine.
The Justice Department's antitrust division in San Francisco continues
to investigate suspected price fixing in the DRAM market.
Matt Andrejczak is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in Washington.