A committee of unsecured creditors owed money by tuna giant Bumble Bee Foods -- which is in the midst of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy --are requesting the tuna company exclude three executives from an annual incentive program Bumble Bee said could award between $6.4 million (€5.7 million) to $12.5 million (€11.2 million) among 130 employees. All the executives' names have been redacted in the complaint.

Two of the individuals, whose names were redacted in the complaint filed with the court on Jan. 3, can be identified through testimony from former Bumble Bee CEO Chris Lischewski's criminal trial, where he was ultimately convicted of orchestrating a massive price-fixing scheme with Chicken of the Sea and Starkist.

The individuals appear to be Bumble Bee Senior VP of Sales Dan Nestojko and Bumble Bee VP of Sales Dan Gerlach, according to the evidence the complaint references. That evidence includes an official US Department of Justice (DOJ) witness list for Lischewski's trial, as well as testimony on Nov. 5 from former Bumble Bee executive Kenneth Worsham.

The testimony showed all three people "were directly involved" in the price-fixing conspiracy, the committee said in its January filing.

On Jan. 3 the committee representing the creditors asked a US bankruptcy judge to not allow the three individuals to receive bonuses doled out to approximately 130 employees under Bumble Bee's annual incentive plan. The plan has been around for 18 years, "and is meant to reward employees for attainment of meaningful business goals."

The creditors are also asking the three individuals be banned from participating in Bumble Bee's other key employee incentive program (KEIP), which proposes to pay $1.3 million (€1.2 million) in bonuses to 37 employees, with most of those employees also receiving bonuses under the annual plan.

"It would be particularly inequitable to reward these individuals with bonuses where it remains unclear what value, if any, will be available to satisfy the claims of [Bumble Bee's] unsecured creditors who were directly harmed by their misconduct," the committee said.

The committee is also asking the court to ban the KEIP plan in general, stating such a ban would support US Congress efforts in Chapter 11 cases to “to eradicate the notion that executives were entitled to bonuses simply for staying with the company through the bankruptcy process.”