| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2012 WWW.JUSTICE.GOV |
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JAPANESE AUTOMOBILE PARTS MANUFACTURER AGREES TO PLEAD GUILTY Company Agrees to Pay $17.7 Million Criminal Fine WASHINGTON — Nagoya, Japan-based Tokai Rika Co. Ltd., has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $17.7 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices of heater control panels (HCPs) installed in cars sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced today. Tokai Rika has also agreed to plead guilty to a charge of obstruction of justice related to the investigation of the antitrust violation. According to a two-count felony charge filed today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit, Tokai Rika engaged in a conspiracy, by agreeing during meetings and conversations, to rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of HCPs sold to Toyota in the United States and elsewhere, on a model-by-model basis. According to the court document, Tokai Rika and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy from at least as early as September 2003 until at least February 2010. Tokai Rika manufactures and sells a variety of automotive parts, including HCPs. HCPs are located in the center console of an automobile and control the temperature of the interior environment of a vehicle. “The conspirators used code names and chose meeting places and times to avoid detection,” said Scott D. Hammond, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program. “They knew their actions would harm American consumers, and attempted to cover it up when caught. The division will continue to hold accountable companies who engage in anticompetitive conduct and who obstruct law enforcement.” According to the charge, in or about February 2010, after the company and its executives and employees became aware that the FBI had executed a search warrant on Tokai Rika’s U.S. subsidiary, a company executive directed employees to delete electronic data and destroy paper documents likely to contain evidence of antitrust crimes in the United States and elsewhere. The department said that as a result, electronic data was deleted and paper documents were destroyed, and some of the deleted electronic data and destroyed paper documents were non-recoverable. “Those who engage in price fixing and obstruction of legal process will face severe consequences for their illegal acts,” said Robert D. Foley III, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Detroit Division. “The FBI is committed to stopping such criminal activity.” As part of the plea agreement, which will be subject to court approval, Tokai Rika has agreed to cooperate with the department’s ongoing investigation. Including Tokai Rika, nine companies and 11 executives have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty in the department’s ongoing investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in the auto parts industry. Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd., DENSO Corp., Yazaki Corp., G.S. Electech Inc., Fujikura Ltd., Autoliv Inc. and TRW Deutschland Holding GmbH pleaded guilty and were sentenced to pay a total of more than $790 million in criminal fines. Nippon Seiki Co. Ltd., has agreed to plead guilty and awaits arraignment and sentencing. Additionally, Junichi Funo, Hirotsugu Nagata, Tetsuya Ukai, Tsuneaki Hanamura, Ryoki Kawai, Shigeru Ogawa, Hisamitsu Takada, Norihiro Imai, Kazuhiko Kashimoto, Toshio Sudo and Makoto Hattori have pleaded guilty and been sentenced to pay criminal fines and to serve jail sentences ranging from a year and a day to two years each. Tokai Rika 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 for the company 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. The maximum fine for a company found guilty of obstruction of justice is $500,000. 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 the Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section and the FBI’s Detroit Field Office with the assistance of the FBI headquarters’ International Corruption Unit. Anyone with information concerning the focus of this investigation is urged to call the Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section at 202-307-6694, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm, or call the FBI’s Detroit Field Office at 313-965-2323. |
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Tag Archives: Sherman Act
Japanese Freight Forwarder Agrees to Pay a $2.3 Million Criminal Fine
 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEWEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 WWW.JUSTICE.GOV |
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| JAPANESE FREIGHT FORWARDER AGREES TO PLEAD GUILTY TO CRIMINAL
PRICE-FIXING CHARGES Company Agrees to Pay a $2.3 Million Criminal Fine WASHINGTON — A Japanese freight forwarding company has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $2.3 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix certain fees in connection with the provision of freight forwarding services for air cargo shipments from Japan to the United States, the Department of Justice announced today. Including today’s charge, as a result of this investigation, 14 companies have either pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty and to pay more than $100 million in criminal fines. According to the one count felony charge filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Yamato Global Logistics Japan Co. Ltd. engaged in a conspiracy to fix and to impose certain freight forwarding service fees, including fuel surcharges and various security fees, charged to customers for services provided in connection with freight forwarding shipments of cargo shipped by air from Japan to the United States from about September 2002 until at least November 2007. As part of the plea agreement, which will be subject to court approval, Yamato Global Logistics Japan Co. Ltd. has agreed to pay a criminal fine of $2,326,774 and to cooperate with the department’s ongoing antitrust investigation. “Consumers ultimately were forced to pay higher prices on the goods they buy every day as a result of the noncompetitive and collusive service fees charged by these companies,” said Scott D. Hammond, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program. “Prosecuting these kinds of global price-fixing conspiracies continues to be a high priority of the Antitrust Division.” According to the charges, the company carried out the conspiracy by, among other things, agreeing during meetings and discussions to coordinate and impose certain freight forwarding service fees and charges on customers purchasing freight forwarding services for cargo shipped by air from Japan to the United States. The department said the company levied freight forwarding service fees in accordance with the agreements reached and engaged in meetings and discussions for the purpose of monitoring and enforcing adherence to the agreed-upon freight forwarding service fees. Freight forwarders manage the domestic and international delivery of cargo for customers by receiving, packaging, preparing and warehousing cargo freight, arranging for cargo shipment through transportation providers such as air carriers, preparing shipment documentation and providing related ancillary services. The company is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum $100 million 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 charges are the result of a joint investigation into the freight forwarding industry being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section, the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the Department of Commerce’s Office of Inspector General. Anyone with information concerning price fixing or other anticompetitive conduct in the freight forwarding industry is urged to call the Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section at 202-307-6694 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contract/newcase.htm or call the FBI’s Washington Field Office at 202-278-2000. |
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Hays Gorey interviewed by Reuters
We’re still putting the finishing touches on our website, but Hays Gorey recently found the time to be interviewed by Reuters.Com. Use the link below for more.
Analysis: Collusion lawsuit in U.S. against buyout firms is no easy case
Taiwan-based liquid crystal display (LCD) producer, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in San Francisco to pay a $500 million criminal fine for a five-year conspiracy to fix LCD panels sold worldwide
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2012 WWW.JUSTICE.GOV |
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TAIWAN-BASED AU OPTRONICS CORPORATION SENTENCED TO PAY Company Also Sentenced to Adopt Antitrust Compliance Program; Former Top Executives Each Sentenced to Serve Three Years in Prison and to Pay Criminal Fine WASHINGTON — AU Optronics Corporation, a Taiwan-based liquid crystal display (LCD) producer, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in San Francisco to pay a $500 million criminal fine for its participation in a five-year conspiracy to fix the prices of thin-film transistor LCD panels sold worldwide, the Department of Justice announced. Its American subsidiary and two former top executives were also sentenced today. The two executives were sentenced to serve prison time and to pay criminal fines for their roles in the conspiracy. The $500 million fine matches the largest fine imposed against a company for violating the U.S. antitrust laws. Today’s sentencing took place before Judge Susan Illston. Along with the criminal fine, AU Optronics Corporation was also sentenced to print advertisements in three major trade publications in the United States and Taiwan acknowledging its convictions and punishments and the remedial steps it has taken as a result of its conviction. The company and its American subsidiary, AU Optronics Corporation America, were also placed on probation for three years, required to adopt an antitrust compliance program and to appoint an independent corporate compliance monitor. “This long-running price-fixing conspiracy resulted in every family, school, business, charity and government agency who bought notebook computers, computer monitors and LCD televisions during the conspiracy to pay more for these products,” said Scott D. Hammond, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program. “The Antitrust Division will continue to pursue vigorously international cartels that target American consumers and rob them of their hard earned money.” Former AU Optronics Corporation president Hsuan Bin Chen was sentenced to serve three years in prison and to pay a $200,000 criminal fine. Former AU Optronics Corporation executive vice president Hui Hsiung was also sentenced to serve three years in prison and to pay a $200,000 criminal fine. “The number of criminal antitrust cases filed has significantly increased over the last five years, and so has the dedication of FBI resources to these important investigations. The FBI remains committed to thwarting fraud and corruption in the United States and around the world. To that end, we have agents, analysts and professional staff in all of our 56 Field Offices and 63 LEGATs that are committed to fighting these crimes wherever they are found and at whatever level they are found. I would like to commend the employees of the FBI’s San Francisco Field Office and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, for their fine work on this very important antitrust investigation. This team has devoted countless hours to the investigation and I appreciate their devotion to the mission,” said Assistant Director Ronald T. Hosko, of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. The companies and former executives were found guilty on March 13, 2012, following an eight-week trial. The indictment charged that AU Optronics Corporation participated in the worldwide price-fixing conspiracy from Sept. 14, 2001, to Dec. 1, 2006, and that its subsidiary joined the conspiracy as early as spring 2003. The jury found that the convicted companies and former executives fixed the prices of LCD panels sold into the United States. The prices were fixed during monthly meetings with their competitors secretly held in hotel conference rooms, karaoke bars and tea rooms around Taiwan. LCD panels are used in computer monitors and notebooks, televisions and other electronic devices. By the end of the conspiracy, the worldwide market for LCD panels was valued at $70 billion annually. The LCD price-fixing conspiracy affected some of the largest computer manufacturers in the world, including Hewlett Packard, Dell and Apple. Including today’s sentences, eight companies have been convicted of charges arising out of the department’s ongoing investigation and have been sentenced to pay criminal fines totaling $1.39 billion. All together, 22 executives have been charged. Including today’s sentences, 12 executives have been convicted and have been sentenced to serve a combined total of 4,871 days in prison. Today’s charges are the result of a joint investigation by the Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Field Office and the FBI in San Francisco. Anyone with information concerning illegal conduct in the LCD industry is urged to call the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Field Office at 415-436-6660 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm. |
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