Tuna executives plotted collusion away from boss, lawyer says

SAN FRANCISCO -- Top Bumble Bee Foods LLC executives worked independently without the guidance of their one-time boss to collude with competitors to fix the prices of canned tuna, an attorney representing the company's former CEO Christopher Lischewski argued Wednesday.

Former senior sales executive Walter Scott Cameron suggested Lischewski was kept in the dark about illicit relationships and communications with rival companies when pressed by the defense in over four hours of questioning on his third consecutive day of testimony.

Lischewski, who stepped down as Bumble Bee's CEO in May 2018, is on trial over accusations he masterminded the price-fixing scheme across three major canned tuna producers, including StarKist Co. and Chicken of the Sea. He faces up to ten years in prison if convicted.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen is presiding over the case.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney and Keker Van Nest & Peters LLP partner Elliot Peters, Cameron portrayed Bumble Bee as a struggling company, losing its dominance in the canned tuna market because competitors were consistently undercutting its prices.

Cameron described the "price war" as a "formidable threat to our franchise" in a 2011 email to company executives.

While Lischewski pressured Cameron to improve business, he never explicitly directed him or other employees to illegally plot with competitors to do so, according to Peters.

In a 2013 email to Cameron from a Bumble Bee executive privy to the collusion, Kenneth Worsham, Lischewski was left out of the communication revealing who their sources in rival companies were.

Cameron is one of the government's key witnesses to the price-fixing conspiracy. The former senior vice president of sales entered into a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in November 2016 and agreed to cooperate in the antitrust division of the Department of Justice's investigation and testify for a reduced sentence.

Cameron said he started communicating with Charles Handford, Starkist's vice president of trade marketing, in 2009 to help coordinate the scheme.

Worsham, Bumble Bee's former senior vice president of trade marketing, also pleaded guilty and is cooperating with federal prosecutors.

The three companies colluded to fix canned tuna prices from 2010 to 2013. Lischewski led the conspiracy, according to the government's indictment. U.S. v. Lischewski, 18-CR0203 (N.D. Cal., filed May 16, 2018).

Manish Kumar, representing the Department of Justice, challenged the defense's portrayal of Lischewski as an bystander to the collusion.

Asked if the defendant knew of his relationship with an executive at Starkist to coordinate the price-fixing, Cameron said he told Lischewski he reached an agreement with Handford to coordinate the pricing of the two companies' products.

Not only was the former Bumble Bee CEO included on most emails, he was constantly relayed information from competitors through phone calls and face-to-face conversations, Cameron continued.

Bumble Bee pled guilty to felony price-fixing in May 2017 and paid a $25 million fine while Dongwon Enterprise-owned StarKist Co. was ordered to pay $100 million in October 2018 after pleading guilty to similar charges.

Tri-Union Seafoods, owner of Chicken of the Sea, which alerted federal prosecutors to the scheme, traded cooperation for immunity.

A host of canned tuna wholesalers and retailers have sued the three companies for losses related to the price-fixing.

A Safeway executive is scheduled to testify Tuesday about meetings and conversations with Lischewski and other Bumble Bee executives.