Ex-Bumble Bee CEO Looks To Avoid Jail Amid COVID-19

By Anne Cullen
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Law360 (May 14, 2020, 7:15 PM EDT) -- The former Bumble Bee CEO facing up to a decade behind bars for fixing tuna prices has asked for just one year of home confinement, saying prison presents "a real and tangible threat to his life" amid the global pandemic.

In a pair of dueling sentencing memos that hit the San Francisco federal docket on Wednesday, federal prosecutors called for Chris Lischewski to spend between eight and 10 years behind bars, while Lischewski emphasized the risks of shuffling him into a crowded, virus-prone prison.

Ex-Bumble Bee CEO Chris Lischewski, shown center in 2008, has asked to be sentenced to one year of home confinement after being found guilty of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)

"In light of the ongoing public health emergency," he said, "it would be inconsistent with Section 3553(a) for the court to sentence Mr. Lischewski, a 59-year old, first-time, non-violent offender, to a term of incarceration in a setting where social distancing is impossible, and where Mr. Lischewski will be exposed daily to a real and tangible threat to his life, when home detention is readily available as an alternative."

Lischewski was found guilty in December of violating federal antitrust laws by teaming up with executives at rivals StarKist and Chicken of the Sea to illegally raise the price of canned tuna between 2010 and 2013.

With his June 3 sentencing hearing fast-approaching, Lischewski has pressed the court for mercy and pointed out that the Bureau of Prisons and government officials are taking measures to get those most vulnerable to COVID-19 — including individuals 60 and older, a category Lischewski will fall into before the end of the year — into home detention.

"Mr. Lischewski is exactly the type of individual that the BOP is releasing to home detention," he said. Lischewski added that to compel him to serve a sentence in a federal prison in the midst of this pandemic "would not only unnecessarily endanger [his] life, but also undermine these efforts to reduce the prison population."

He also asserted he was "a conscientious businessman" and "a good man who has led an exemplary life," points his attorneys underscored Thursday.

"The government's recommendation is grotesque, out of all proportion to the actual underlying conduct, and far out of step with actual sentences handed out in antitrust cases by courts in this district and throughout the country," Keker Van Nest & Peters LLP partner Elliot Peters said in an email to Law360. "It also ignores the life Chris Lischewski has led, his community service, generosity, and his leadership in the seafood industry and in global sustainability."

While the Probation Department recommended that Lischewski spend four years in prison — representing a downward shift from sentencing guidelines due to his age — prosecutors have urged the court to stick to the guideline range, which calls for between 97 and 120 months in custody. 

"Defendant presents as a stereotypical antitrust offender: a wealthy, middle-aged, senior executive in good health living a lifestyle commensurate with the very status that allowed him to perpetrate the crime," the government said in their memo Wednesday. "Defendants are routinely sentenced to incarceration at the age of 59 and older, for all sorts of crimes."

They also argued that Lischewski deserves the enhanced sentence for repeatedly lying on the stand, as prosecutors said he denied any knowledge of the conspiracy even when confronted with evidence and other witness testimony proving his direct involvement.

"Throughout his time on the stand, defendant proved himself to be just such a 'polished prevaricator,' engaging in a consistent pattern of self-serving minimization, evasion, implausible explanations and denials, contradictory statements, and outright lies," the government said.

The prosecutors added that Lischewski's "false testimony was so egregious that on several occasions he explicitly misrepresented documents presented to him on the stand."

During the nearly four weeks of trial, the jury also heard testimony from a host of other major players in the canned tuna industry, including former Chicken of the Sea CEO Shue Wing Chan, StarKist Vice President of Sales Stephen Hodge, and Bumble Bee's former senior vice presidents Kenneth Worsham and Walter Scott Cameron, who both testified that Lischewski had directed the conspiracy.

Worsham, Cameron and Hodge have all pled guilty to their role in the plot and are awaiting sentencing. Chan has received amnesty in return for cooperating with the investigation.

Bumble Bee and StarKist have also pled guilty to conspiring to fix prices and were slapped with fines of $25 million and $100 million, respectively. Chicken of the Sea has admitted to wrongdoing and cooperated with the government's investigation. 

A spokesperson for the government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The government is represented by Manish Kumar, Mikal Condon, Leslie Wulff and Andrew Schupanitz of the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division.

Lischewski is represented by Elliot Peters, Christopher Kearney, Elizabeth McCloskey and Nicholas Goldberg of Keker Van Nest & Peters LLP.

The case is U.S. v. Lischewski, case number 3:18-cr-00203, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

--Additional reporting by Hannah Albarazi and Cara Bayles. Editing by Philip Shea.

For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.

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