San Diego

Federal Price-Fixing Investigation Nets Bumble Bee

San Diego-based Bumble Bee Foods LLC, which sells packaged seafood, has agreed to plead guilty to fixing the prices of shelf-stable tuna, the Department of Justice announced Monday.

The charge was filed as part of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into the packaged seafood industry.

The DOJ said Bumble Bee had also agreed to pay a $25 million criminal fine. Were the company sold, that fine could increase to a maximum of $81.5 million, according to prosecutors. The San Diego company has also agreed to cooperate with the ongoing investigation.

Prosecutors have filed two previous charges related to the investigation, both against employees of the San Diego-based company. In December, Bumble Bee Foods executives Walter Scott Cameron and Kenneth Worsham agreed to plead guilty to fixing prices on packaged seafood from 2011 to 2013.

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