De Beers pleads guilty to price-fixing

[hightime]

De Beers has pleaded guilty to a decade-old price-fixing charge, freeing the world's dominant diamond producer to compete directly in the lucrative US market.


The South African diamond group - that is 45% owned by mining conglomerate Anglo American plc - was fined the maximum $10 million by US District Court Judge George Smith under the terms of the plea agreement on Tuesday.

The charge of fixing prices on industrial diamonds in 1991 and 1992 had previously been dismissed against De Beers' original co-defendant in the 1994 case, General Electric Co, for lack of evidence.

At the time, De Beers had refused to acknowledge US jurisdiction
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/788B95CF-9836-43BD-B6E1-38646FAC785F.htm

[DemoTex]

1. Boycott De Beers. Boycott diamonds.

Nothing like having a big, sparkling, x-carat token of African slave labor on your pinky.

[doctorbombeigh]

2. 10 million? That's chump change to the Oppenheimers

The Oppenheimers are the owners of DeBeers, as I recall.

So - finally - someone wants to do something about the DeBeers monopoly on the world diamond market, that's cool and all, but...

What about the Death/Blood Diamonds (or whatever the hell they call it)? Isn't the real scandal both the DeBeers participation in murder-brutality-exploitation during apartheid and the lingering issue of diamonds being sold on the world market to fund repressive homicidal regimes in Africa?

[tridim]

3. De Beers is so screwed

and I'm pretty happy about it. Apparently companies are now making flawless diamonds in the lab that are just as good and better than nature. When these hit the market De Beers is dead.

[bemildred]

4. Indeed, who better to get fucked, after fucking so many. nt