Chris Lischewski, the former CEO of Bumble Bee Foods, is no longer serving on the board of directors at American Seafoods, the Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.-based pollock fishing company in which he invested in 2015.
Lischewski stepped down from his leadership position at Bumble Bee in May after being indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges of fixing the price of canned tuna.
Lischewski was listed along with American’s other board members in a Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities issued on 6 April, which served as public notification of the sale of USD 1.23 million (EUR 1.06 million). However, Lischewski was not listed in a similar notification filed 2 August announcing the sale of USD 1.7 million (EUR 1.47 million) in company equity.
The listing did not specify whether the sale included any or all of Lischewski’s share in American Seafoods, which he purchased in 2015 as part of a group of investors that included Pacific Seafood Group CEO Frank Dulcich, Bregal Partners Managing Partner Scott Perekslis, and Icicle Seafoods CEO Amy Humphreys.
Dulcich, Perekslis, and Humphreys all still sit on American Seafoods’ board, according to the equity filing. Also included is current American Seafoods CEO Mikel Durham; the company’s chief financial officer Kevin McMenimen; chief legal officer and general counsel Matthew Latimer; newly retired former board chairman Bernt Bodal; Bregal Partners director Paul McGill and partner Charles Yoon; William Bittner, an operating partner at Centre Partners Management LLC; and William Rosenfeld Jr.
In May, after’s Lischewski’s indictment, American Seafoods Vice President of Corporate Relations Ron Rogness, who has since retired, told SeafoodSource via email that Lischewski joined American Seafoods’ board of directors after making “a small investment in American Seafoods in 2015 as part of the company’s recapitalization transaction.”
“While American Seafoods became aware of the legal action involving Mr. Lischewski in … media reports, the company does not have any further comment,” Rogness told SeafoodSource on 21 May.
According to the federal indictment, Lischewski “knowingly joined and participated” in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing prices on packaged seafood sold in America. He and other unnamed co-conspirators held meetings and exchanged information on not just pricing data but sales, supply, demand, and production.
