A joint venture by Hitachi Ltd <6501.T> and LG Electronics Inc <066570.KS> has been charged with violating U.S. antitrust laws in the sale of optical disk drives, according to court papers filed on Friday.

Hitachi-LG Data Storage Inc was accused of bid-rigging and price-fixing as well as wire fraud in a 15-count criminal information filed in federal court in California. Such filings are typically done ahead of guilty pleas. (Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, editing by John Wallace)

Manufacturing LG electronics LG