Japanese Company to Plead Guilty in US Price-Fixing Case

VOA Breaking News
September 29, 2011 at 11:50 am

A Japanese auto parts supplier and three of its executives have agreed to plead guilty to U.S. allegations that they engaged in a price-fixing and bid-rigging conspiracy.

The U.S. Justice Department said Thursday that Tokyo-based Furukawa Electric would pay a $200 million fine for its role in the scheme. The agency said the company conspired from 2003 to 2009 to rig bids and fix the prices for automotive wire harnesses and related products it sold to car manufacturers in the U.S. and elsewhere.

As a result, the U.S. investigative agency said the manufacturers paid higher prices for parts in cars that were sold to U.S. consumers.

As part of a plea agreement with Furukawa, the government said three company executives would serve prison sentences in the U.S. ranging from a year and a day to 18 months.

A government investigator said price-fixing “undermines the foundation of the U.S. economic system.”