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Article: De Beers could plead guilty to US charge
- Article from:
- China Daily
- Article date:
- July 12, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2004 China Daily. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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De Beers, the world's largest diamond company, indicated it will
plead guilty on July 13 to a US charge that it fixed prices of
industrial diamonds, ending a 10-year legal battle, a court clerk
said.
"The court is set to take down De Beers's guilty plea," said Keith
Mayton, a clerk for US District Judge George C. Smith in Columbus,
Ohio. The maximum penalty is a US$10 million fine, he said.
The plea may pave the way for Johannesburg-based De Beers to
expand in the US, where half of all diamond jewelry is sold. The
company already is moving beyond the US$8 billion-a-year rough-
diamond industry into the US$60 billion diamond retail market through