De Beers to plead guilty in price-fixing case

[dArKeR]

Diamond dealer Samba Sabali, 76, originally from Niger, weighs the diamonds of miners and prospective sellers, in the remote town of Koidu, the diamond-mining center of Sierra Leone last Sunday.
PHOTO: AP
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/photo/2004/07/11/2003139379

De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer, has agreed to plead guilty to criminal price-fixing, a court official and lawyer involved in the case said Friday. The move ends a decadelong case and paves the way for the company to return to the US after an absence of nearly half a century.

The company is expected to plead guilty on Tuesday before Judge George Smith of US District Court in Columbus, Ohio, said Keith Mayton, a clerk in that court. He said the company faced a maximum fine of US$10 million.

"The court is set to take a guilty plea from De Beers," Mayton said.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2004/07/11/2003178575

[NuttyFluffers]

1. i'd rather see them broken up.

the diamond market needs real competition, not this artificial stuff. when i think of diamonds i think overpriced cheap stones fueling a really old monopoly.

pfft $10 mil. drop in the bucket.