This week the first one was sentenced to jail time. In his defense, he pleaded he was only following orders.
Former Sea Star Line executive Peter Baci, the first person sentenced in a federal antitrust investigation of Puerto Rico carriers, claims that he participated in a price-fixing scheme under orders from an official at Saltchuk Resources, a part-owner of Sea Star.
Baci was senior vice president, yield management, at Sea Star until he was fired last year after the federal investigation became public. He was sentenced today to four years in prison, a $20,000 fine and two years of supervised release after pleading guilty to antitrust conspiracy.
As we know all too well, lots of people do things they shouldn't, in order to keep their job.
“Mr. Shapiro was powerful; he threatened and directed the termination of employment at others at Sea Star and he significantly intimidated Mr. Baci,” the memo said. “Mr. Baci believes Mr. Shapiro hatched the idea of collusion with the other carriers. Later, Shapiro ordered him to collude with his counterpart at Horizon…”
“Peter Baci did not originate the idea, create the concept or hatch the plan,” Houlihan wrote.
Houlihan’s memo, which sought leniency in Baci’s sentencing, said Baci did not profit from the price-fixing scheme, but participated only to keep his job.
While I certainly don't condone what he did, it does appear the government has done this to set an example, but 4 years is really a bit nuts. Furthermore, think about how many tax payer dollars will have to go to pay for this jail time. Don't we have better things to do with our tax dollars?
“To the extent there was any financial gain, it would have been realized by corporations who are likely to be charged in subsequent indictments,” the memo stated.
The Justice Department said Baci's jail sentence was the longest ever imposed for a single antitrust charge.
I think our government should be pleading stupidity as well.
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