Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Former auto parts executive indicted in cartel probe, (May 12, 2016)

By Jeffrey May, J.D.

As a result of an ongoing antitrust probe of the automotive parts industry, a Japanese national who had served as an executive at a Japanese subsidiary of a U.S.-based company has been charged with participating in a conspiracy to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate the market for ceramic substrates used in catalytic converters supplied to automobile manufacturers. A one-count indictment was filed yesterday in the federal district court in Detroit, naming Nobuhiko Niwa (U.S. v. Niwa, Case No. 2:16-cr-20341-SFC-APP).

According to the charge, Niwa participated in the conspiracy from July 1999 through July 2011, while employed at an unnamed Japanese subsidiary of an unnamed parent company headquartered in Corning, New York. The indictment does not name the companies; however, based on the description in the indictment, the parent company is Corning Incorporated.

The conspiracy allegedly restrained competition in the market for ceramic substrates used in automotive emissions control systems to reduce pollution. Automotive emissions control systems containing affected substrates were supplied to automobile manufacturers—including General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, and Honda—and certain of their subsidiaries, affiliates, and suppliers, the government contended.

In announcing the indictment, the Justice Department said that a total of 59 individuals and 39 companies have been charged and have agreed to pay more than $2.6 billion in criminal fines as a result of the government's ongoing probe of the auto parts industry. The Justice Department's first charges in the probe were filed in 2011.

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