Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Auto parts maker Toyoda Gosei pleads guilty to fixing prices and rigging bids, (Sep 29, 2014)

By Peter Reap, J.D., LL.M.

Toyoda Gosei Co. Ltd., an automotive parts manufacturer based in Aichi, Japan, has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $26 million criminal fine for its role in conspiracies to fix prices and rig bids for automotive hoses, airbags, and steering wheels sold to automobile manufacturers, the Department of Justice announced today. A two-count felony charge was filed in the federal district court in Toledo (U.S. v. Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd., Case No. 3:14-cr-00349-JZ).

According to the information, Toyoda Gosei conspired to fix the prices of certain automotive hoses sold to Toyota Motor Corp. and certain of its subsidiaries, affiliates and suppliers (collectively Toyota), in the United States; and conspired to fix the prices of automotive airbags and steering wheels sold to Toyota and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. and certain of its subsidiaries, affiliates and suppliers, and certain of their subsidiaries, affiliates and suppliers (collectively Subaru), in the United States and elsewhere. In addition to the criminal fine, Toyoda Gosei has agreed to cooperate in the department’s ongoing investigation. The plea agreement will be subject to court approval.

“When purchasing an automobile, American consumers should feel confident that the sticker price is based on fair market costs to manufacture the vehicle,” said Brent Snyder, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program. “The Antitrust Division will continue to prosecute cases in the auto parts industry to ensure fair and competitive prices are maintained.”

Toyoda Gosei and its co–conspirators, according to the charges, conspired through meetings and conversations in which they discussed and agreed upon bids and price quotations to be submitted to certain automakers and to allocate the supply of the products to those automakers. In furtherance of the agreements, Toyoda Gosei sold certain automotive hoses at noncompetitive prices to Toyota in the United States, and sold airbags and steering wheels at noncompetitive prices to Toyota and Subaru in the United States and elsewhere. Toyoda Gosei’s involvement in the automotive hoses conspiracy lasted from at least as early as February 2004 until at least September 2010 and its involvement in the automotive airbags and steering wheels conspiracy lasted from at least as early as September 2003 until at least September 2010.

Toyoda Gosei is charged with price fixing and bid rigging in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty for corporations of $100 million for each violation. 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.

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