Samsung Exec Pleads Guilty in DRAM Case

A fifth Samsung executive has fallen in the government's DRAM price fixing investigation, as the president of Samsung's U.S. subsidiary pleads guilty.

The ongoing investigation into price fixing in the market for dynamic random access memory (DRAM) has chalked up another victory, as Young Hwan Park, president of Samsung’s U.S. subsidiary pleads guilty to violations of the Sherman antitrust act for having conspired to fix prices and eliminate competition in the DRAM market.

To date, 18 individuals and four companies have been charges in the U.S. Department of Justice’s probe into the DRAM market. So far, more than $730 million in criminal fines have been assessed in the case, making it the second-largest price-fixing case in U.S. history.

Under the plea agreement, Park will serve 10 months in prison and pay $25,000 in damages. Park has also agreed to assist the government in its continuing investigation.

“This latest plea underscores our resolve to hold responsible those who target U.S. businesses and consumers with price-fixing schemes,” said Thomas O. Barnett, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department’s Antitrust Division, in a release. “Individuals who choose to engage in price fixing are on notice of the consequences of their illegal actions—criminal fines and prison time.”

Park was charged with a single felony count for working with as-yet unnamed employees of other memory manufacturers to fix the prices of DRAm sold to particular OEM paertners from about April of 2001 to the middle of June, 2002. Targeted manufacturers included Apple, Compaq (which hadn’t yet been acquired by HP), Dell, Gateway, IBM, and HP.

So far, three overseas-based Samsung executives and one other U.S. Samsung executive have also pleaded guilty in the case, and have agreed to $250,000 fines and prison terms of seven to eight months. In addition, executives from Elpida, Hynix Semiconductor, and Micron and Infineon have plead guilty to price-fixing charges and faced similar penalties. In addition, the executives parent companies have paid penalties ranging from $300 million (Samsung) to $84 million (Elpida).