UPDATE 2-AU Optronics, CEO indicted in US for price-fixing

* Conspiracy alleged to fix thin-film display prices

* Six executives indicted

* Six companies have pleaded guilty in probe (Adds detail from indictment, efforts to reach company for comment)

WASHINGTON, June 10 (Reuters) - AU Optronics Corp (2409.TW), a Taiwanese maker of liquid crystal display panels, and its Chief Executive Lai-Juh Chen, were among those indicted for conspiring to fix prices, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday.

U.S. prosecutors allege AU Optronics and an American subsidiary were involved in a conspiracy from 2001 to 2006 to fix the prices of thin-film LCD panels. The U.S. probe is part of a long-running investigation that has seen six other companies plead guilty.

The indictment filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco also names five other AU Optronics executives, including Hsuan Bin Chen, former president and now vice chairman of the company's board.

Calls by Reuters to AU Optronics and its U.S. unit were not returned.

Thin-film LCDs are used in computer screens, televisions and mobile phones, among other devices.

The six companies which have pleaded guilty in the probe have racked up fines totaling more than $860 million, the Justice Department said. Eleven of their executives have been indicted.

The companies that have pleaded guilty include Chi Mei Optoelectronics, LG Display Co Ltd (034220.KS), Sharp Corp (6753.T) and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (2475.TW).

Epson Imaging Devices Corp, a unit of Seiko Epson Corp (6724.T); and Hitachi Displays, have also pleaded guilty.

AU Optronics executives were among the executives from four Taiwanese LCD makers who met in a Taipei hotel room in September 2001 where they decided to meet once a month to fix prices for the thin-film LCDs, according to the indictment.

Later that month another meeting was held in another Taipei hotel room that included the four LCD makers from Taiwan and two Korean competitors, who agreed to join regular meetings to exchange price information, the indictment said.

After about four years of regular meetings, in May 2005, the executives began to fear that one or two major LCD customers had begun to suspect the meetings and so the companies began sending lower level sales executives to the gatherings, the indictment said.

The next year, again concerned about detection, the executives from the six companies began getting together in restaurants, exchanging information in one-on-one meetings, the indictment said.

Once news broke of a U.S. investigation into LCD price-fixing, the indictment said representatives of AU Optronics Corporation America attempted to destroy evidence that they had been in contact with rivals. (Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky and Diane Bartz; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)