The hammer was brought down on Young Hwan Park, president of Samsung Semiconductor. For his part in the much-covered DRAM price-fixing scandals that involved multiple large DRAM manufacturers, he will be getting more than just a fine. He's going to jail for 10 months, and will be paying a fine of $250,000. He isn't the first to be sent to jail over the price fixing, and is in fact the fifth just from Samsung. All five are facing the same fines, though some face shorter prison sentences. The scope of this scandal reaches far, and affects many people:
Four companies and 18 people have been charged in the Justice Department's investigation into a price-fixing conspiracy surrounding DRAM. Criminal fines totaling more than $730 million also have been levied. According to the government, this represents the second-largest total amount of fines ever imposed in a U.S. criminal antitrust investigation into one price-fixing conspiracy.
Not all employees are being named. Given the global impact that price fixing of such a common product as DRAM would have, it isn't a surprise that these people are being sent to jail.