Americas News
Five Year Sentence for Former Sea Star President
The former president of U.S. freight carrier Sea Star Line LLC (Sea Star), Frank Peake, has been sentenced to five years in prison for price fixing, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.
Peake was also given a $25,000 fine in the case, which involved a conspiracy among carriers serving routes between the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico to allocate customers among the services and rig bids.
"The sentence imposed today reflects the serious harm these conspirators inflicted on American consumers, both in the continental United States and in Puerto Rico," said Bill Baer, assistant attorney general in charge of DOJ's Antitrust Division.
"The Antitrust Division will continue to vigorously prosecute executives who collude to fix prices at the expense of consumers."
Peake was involved in the conspiracy between 2005 and 2008, according to the DOJ.
The three largest water freight carriers serving the routes have pleaded guilty and been fined more than $46 million, including a $14.2 million fine given to Sea Star in 2011.
Five other individuals involved in the conspiracy have also been sentenced to prison terms, and former Crowley Liner Services Vice President Thomas Farmer is scheduled to go on trial in May of 2014.
The three carriers, Sea Star, Horizon, and Crowley, were also the target of a class action lawsuit by shippers resulting in a $52.3 million payment, as well as another pending action by two additional shippers, according to Hawaii Shippers Council President Michael N. Hansen, writing in the Hawaii Free Press.
