A nice TV doesn’t come cheap, but the state of Illinois is getting suspicious about prices anyway. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a complaint on Tuesday, accusing several large electronics makers of conspiring to inflate the costs of TVs and computer monitors.
The complaint asserts that the companies, including Samsung Electronics Co., LG Electronics Co. and Philips Electronics North American Corp., agreed to fix the prices and limit production of cathode ray tubes, a component used in the manufacture of TVs and computer monitors. This allegedly went on from at least March 1, 1995 to Nov. 25, 2007.
Combined, the companies made billions of dollars from the sale of cathode ray tubes over that period. Some of the companies’ customers included such high-profile clients as Apple Inc., Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.
Most of the companies named in the case declined to comment on the matter when asked by Bloomberg. But one company, Samsung Display Device Co. has already pled guilty and agreed to fork over $32 million for its role in the scheme.
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