By on February 3rd, 2014. This post currently has no responses.

AISAN INDUSTRY CO. LTD. AGREES TO PLEAD GUILTY TO PRICE FIXING ON AUTOMOBILE PARTS INSTALLED IN U.S. CARS

WASHINGTON — Aisan Industry Co. Ltd., an Obu, Japan-based company, has agreed to  plead guilty and to pay a criminal fine of $6.86 million for its role in a  price-fixing conspiracy involving electronic  throttle bodies sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of  Justice announced today.

According to a one-count felony charge filed  today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit, Aisan engaged in a  conspiracy to rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of  electronic throttle bodies sold to Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. and certain of its  subsidiaries in the United States and elsewhere.  In addition to the criminal fine, Aisan has also agreed to  cooperate with the department’s ongoing auto parts investigations. The plea agreement is  subject to court approval.
“The Antitrust Division will continue to hold companies accountable for  anticompetitive conduct that impacts the automobile industry in the United  States,” said Brent Snyder, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust  Division’s criminal enforcement program.  “To date, 25 companies have been charged as  part of the Antitrust Division’s ongoing auto parts investigation.”

According to the charges, Aisan and its co-conspirators carried out the price-fixing conspiracy  through meetings and conversations in which they discussed and agreed upon bids  and price quotations for electronic throttle bodies.  Aisan’s  involvement in the conspiracy to fix prices of electronic  throttle bodies lasted from at least as early as October 2003 until at  least February 2010.

Aisan manufactures and sells automotive electronic throttle bodies,  which are part of the air intake system in an engine that controls the amount  of air flowing into an engine’s combustion chamber.  By controlling air flow within an engine, the  electronic throttle body controls engine speed.

Including Aisan, 25 corporations have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead  guilty in the department’s investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in  the auto parts industry.  The companies  have agreed to pay a total of more than $1.8 billion in fines.  Additionally, 28 individuals have been charged.

Aisan is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act,  which carries a maximum penalty of a $100 million criminal fine for  corporations.  The maximum fine may be  increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered  by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the  statutory maximum fine.

Today’s prosecution arose from an ongoing federal antitrust  investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct  in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by each of the  Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement sections and the FBI.  Today’s charges were brought by the San  Francisco Office of the Antitrust Division with assistance provided by the  National Criminal Enforcement Section of the Antitrust Division, the Detroit  Field Office of the FBI, and the FBI headquarters’ National Criminal Enforcement Section.  Anyone with information concerning  this investigation should contact the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint  Center at 1-888-647-3258, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html  or call the Detroit Field Office of the FBI at  313-965-2323.