Execs go to jail, do not pass go in Samsung DRAM price fixing case

In what might signal the end of the US federal investigation into DRAM price fixing between April 1999 to June 2002, three Samsung execs -- Sun Woo Lee, Yeongho Kang, and Young Woo Lee -- have pled guilty to charges this morning and agreed to pay fines of $250,000 apiece in addition to serving seven-to-eight months in a US luxury prison. Execs from co-conspirators Hynix Semi, Elpida Memory, Micron Technology, and Infineon Technology had previously plead quilty and agreed to serve time as well. Micron is believed to have been the company that tipped off the feds to the scheme and thus has not been charged as a company. With this now behind them, Samsung can focus on defending, or coming-clean, to charges brought against them by the South Korean FTC of "unfair trading practices" with regard to their NAND flash memory modules. For as they say, relativity applies to physics, not ethics.

[Jake @ Mar 23rd 2006 8:17AM]

Judge: "How does the defendant plead?"

Defendant: "Quilty, your honor!"

:-P

(the sentence about the execs from hynix, etc)

[duerra @ Mar 23rd 2006 9:11AM]

Honestly, while the prison sentence almost seems like a formality more than a punishment, I still wish that these kinds of sentences would be imposed more often, and in increasing strictness (*cough* Sony rootkit *cough*). These companies need to be held accountable for their illegal practices, and right now that isn't happening on a regular basis.

The problems with all these "evil corporations" is that there is no accountability. Illegal practices and tactics are used while hiding behind a corporate logo that seems to provide a sort of free-for-all haven for these execs to do anything and everything possible to fatten up their wallets just a little bit more.

It's sickening.

[BONOBOHO @ Mar 23rd 2006 9:44AM]

why is the picture backwards?

[cuby @ Mar 23rd 2006 9:53AM]

for anyone who has read nabokov's "lolita", pleading "quilty" connotes far more than conspiratorial price-fixing ...

[cuby @ Mar 23rd 2006 9:53AM]

for anyone who has read nabokov's "lolita", pleading "quilty" connotes far more than conspiratorial price-fixing ...

[kenai @ Mar 23rd 2006 9:53AM]

i am glad my tax dollars are being taken from me to stop people from voluntarily exchanging goods and services.

i didnt have to buy samsung products. i didnt care what they did. but now i surely have to pay the price of the case against them. how about people just dont buy stuff if it too expensive, and shut their damn whiny mouths?

[blunt @ Feb 20th 2007 7:24PM]

kenai, please keep your ignorant uneducated ranting to yourself.

Quite frankly, Im not sure if you lack critical reading skills or are just plain retarded. So being the nice guy that i am let me attempt to explain to you why you are a f*cking retard; When they say price fixing, it means the execs from Samsung get together with all their competition and they agree on a set price, therefore not only do they have inflated prices but so does the competition.
If I HAVE to buy a computer for work, then part of the package I pay for is the memory manufactured by one of the companies involved in the price fixing scandal(because all of them are involved).
So I the consumer pay the price, I am unable to "shut my damn whiny mouth", because a computer is a necessity for my job, and I cant "not buy stuff if its too expensive".

In conclusion, you obviously have a very below average IQ and i am personally astounded that you had the mental capacity to even type a message let alone find this website. PLEASE, do the world a favor and go kill yourself immediately.

[o4saken1 @ Mar 23rd 2006 10:01AM]

I completely agree. That's why America (sad to say) is going to fall behind other countries soon. and we'll no longer be the comfortable superpower that we are now. It's not just corrupt business practices w/o proper punishments, but our eating habits are less healthy, are children are dumber, and "the little people" have no real power as individuals :( damn, i gotta start thinking about moving to another country. :)

[Alex @ Mar 23rd 2006 10:18AM]

BONOBOHO: the picture is backwards because Koreans can't read.

[Jake @ Mar 23rd 2006 12:29PM]

Kenai:

Thank you for your enlightened post. Do you even know what price-fixing and collusion mean? It means that the biggest players in a specific market get together and agree to completely disregard market influences on price (supply and demand) and set a base-line price that none of them will undercut. It's not just Samsung; they fixed the price with every major supplier of DRAM for the US market.

This means that you didn't, actually, have a choice. Sure, you could avoid Samsung chips, but that only leaves Micron, Hynix, Infineon, etc. And they all fixed their price, too. If you bought an assembled computer, a laptop, or any DRAM memory on the market between 1999 and 2002, EVEN IF IT DIDN'T HAVE ANY OF THESE COMPANY'S CHIPS IN IT, you paid too much because they artificially set the price.

The inflated price for these brands' chips set a high bar for the few competitors out there; if SamHynInfMic set their price at, say, $10, then a competitor only has to come to market at

[Curmudgeon @ Mar 23rd 2006 2:03PM]

Let it go Jake. This isn't the first time this particular arguement has come up about Samsung on here, and people like kenai and martin (who I've argued with about this previously) can't wrap their heads around the real-world impacts of what they're saying. I'd guess they're libertarians, or barring that Samsung executives.

[Jake @ Mar 23rd 2006 2:29PM]

Hm, seems the last of my message got cut off... should have been:

[Jake @ Mar 23rd 2006 2:31PM]

Ok, WTF...

[steve-o @ Mar 23rd 2006 9:01PM]

Just about all major memory suppliers were involved in this memory fixing scandal, tried and plead guilty with fines and jail time. However, only the 2 Korean manufacturers LG and Samsung get the spotlight. And the ratter Micron, who participated in this themselves, was excused from punishment. To me this just looks like a modern day witch hunt. Everyone involved should get equal airtime.

If Memory MFG receive such a treatment, M$ should be dismantled for their monopolization and price fixing of Windows + Office product worldwide. You have no choice but to purchase these SW nowadays and it kills me to pay $150-$300 every time. I can and will pay something in the $50-$70 range, but it has become insane. No freakin wonder piracy is such a common place these days.

[arthur barnhouse @ Mar 23rd 2006 10:58PM]

"Just about all major memory suppliers were involved in this memory fixing scandal, tried and plead guilty with fines and jail time. However, only the 2 Korean manufacturers LG and Samsung get the spotlight. And the ratter Micron, who participated in this themselves, was excused from punishment. To me this just looks like a modern day witch hunt. Everyone involved should get equal airtime."

Five of the biggest companies were involved in the price fixing. One got of for ratting (up for debate if that's right or wrong), two other companies got fines, and Samsung and
Hynix, the ringleaders, got fines and jailtime. I guess I don't see the huge issue.


"If Memory MFG receive such a treatment, M$ should be dismantled for their monopolization and price fixing of Windows + Office product worldwide"

I think you're confusing a monopoly with a lack of alternatives. Microsoft isn't a monopoly because, theoretically, they are not practicing any sort of unfair competitive behavior. Any word processor can enter the market, there isn't an entry barrier. There just so happens that no one wants to. If you're really not down with Word, you're only real option is Open Office, but that's hard to lay at the feet of Microsoft.