A US federal grand jury is conducting a criminal investigation into possible anticompetitive practices at Corning Asahi Video Products, the Corning Inc. subsidiary that produced CRT glass. The plant o…
A US federal grand jury is conducting a criminal investigation into possible anticompetitive practices at Corning Asahi Video Products, the Corning Inc. subsidiary that produced CRT glass. The plant operated by Corning Asahi Video Products at State College, Pennsylvania, was closed earlier this year. The grand jury issued a subpoena in August 2003 for documents from Corning Asahi Video, a joint venture of Corning Inc. and Asahi Glass America Inc., a subsidiary of Asahi Glass Co. Two Corning Asahi Video employees were also summoned to give evidence to the grand jury. The disclosure by Corning Inc. that the subpoenas were issued came in its quarterly filing with the US federal Securities and Exchange Commission 30 October 2003. The company said in the document that Corning Asahi Video is cooperating with the federal investigation. Corning Inc. spokesperson Monica Ott confirmed that a criminal investigation is under way and said the company is cooperating fully. The grand jury is investigating possible violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act, which prohibits anticompetitive practices such as price-fixing, bid-rigging and customer allocation. The latter is an arrangement between companies to reduce competition by allocating customers, sometimes by geographical area. Violations of the federal Sherman Act are serious crimes punishable by a fine of up to USD 10 million for corporations. Individuals face a maximum three years in prison and a fine of up to USD 350,000. In addition to criminal sentences, corporations or individuals convicted of Sherman Act violations can be ordered to make restitution to victims for all overpayments. Those convicted may also be sued by victims for up to three times the amount of damages suffered, according to the Justice Department. Declining sales of its CRT television products lead to the decision to close the sole Corning Asahi Video Products manufacturing plant in 2003. Demand for the product fell because of competition from cheaper imports, mostly from Asia. Corning Asahi Video Products was set up in 1988 to make television tubes for the North American market. The State College plant, which employed about 1,000 when it was closed earlier in 2003, started making TV glass in 1967. Corning Inc. continues to make conventional television tubes in Korea through a joint venture, Samsung Corning Ltd.