News: Page (1) of 1 - 09/20/12

Taiwan's AU Optronics fined $500 million in U.S. for price fixing

US-AUOPTRONICS-FINE:Taiwan's AU Optronics fined $500 million in U.S. for price fixing

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday fined AU Optronics Corp <2409.TW> $500 million following its criminal conviction earlier this year for price fixing in the market for liquid crystal display panels.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, at a sentencing hearing in San Francisco federal court, also ordered three years of probation for the Taiwanese company including implementation of a compliance and ethics program.

A jury convicted the company and two executives in March, but acquitted a former AU chief executive. AU has said it would appeal its conviction.

AU had argued it should be fined no more than $285 million, while U.S. antitrust prosecutors had asked for a $1 billion fine.

(Reporting By Malathi Nayak and Dan Levine; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

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