Former Martinair exec pleads guilty in U.S. to price fixing, gets 14-month sentence

WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - An executive of Martinair Holland N.V., who was a fugitive for a decade before being detained in Italy last year and extradited to the United States, pleaded guilty to fixing prices of air cargo shipments and sentenced to 14 months in prison, the Justice Department said on Thursday.

Maria Christina Ullings, who was a senior vice president of cargo sales and marketing for Martinair, was one of more than a dozen executives implicated in the scheme when she was indicted in 2010. She was apprehended in Italy in July and extradited to the United States.

In addition to the prison sentence, Ullings was ordered to pay a fine of $20,000, the department said.

Ullings was part of a price-fixing conspiracy from early 2001 to early 2006, the department said. The shipments involved ranged from heavy equipment to perishables.

The long-running probe into price fixing in the air cargo industry led to charges against 22 airlines and 21 executives, the department said. (Reporting by Diane Bartz Editing by Bill Berkrot)