WASHINGTON — Christopher Lischewski, president and chief executive officer of Bumble Bee Foods L.L.C., San Diego, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for participating in a conspiracy to fix prices for packaged seafood sold in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The indictment, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, charges Mr. Lischewski with participating in a conspiracy to fix prices of packaged seafood beginning in or about November 2010 until December 2013.

On May 8, the company agreed to plead guilty for its role in the price fixing scheme.  As part of the agreement, the company agreed to pay a $25 million criminal fine, which could rise to a maximum fine of $81.5 million in the event of a sale of the company.

“The Antitrust Division is committed to prosecuting senior executives who unjustly profit at the expense of their customers,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “American consumers deserve free enterprise, not fixed prices, so the department will not tolerate crimes like the one charged in today’s indictment.”

Mr. Lischewski is the third Bumble Bee executive to be charged in the ongoing federal antitrust investigation. Other individuals who have been charged include Walter Scott Cameron, senior vice-president of sales, and Kenneth Worsham, senior vice-president of trade marketing.