A California judge on Tuesday refused former Bumble Bee CEO Chris Lischewski's request for an acquittal of his guilty conviction for fixing prices of canned seafood with rivals Chicken of the Sea and Starkist.

On Jan. 13, Lischewski filed a motion for judgment of acquittal with a US District Court in San Francisco, where only a month earlier he was convicted by a jury of being the mastermind behind the massive scheme involving Bumble Bee, Starkist and Chicken of the Sea International.