Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Fujikura Ltd. executives indicted for conspiring to fix auto parts prices, (Sep 19, 2013)

Two executives for Fujikura Ltd. have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Detroit for their roles in an international conspiracy to fix prices of parts used in automotive harnesses sold to Subaru and installed in U.S. automobiles, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today.

The indictment charges Japanese nationals Ryoji Fukudome and Toshihiko Nagashima with participating in a conspiracy to fix prices of automotive wire harnesses sold to Fuji Heavy Industries—an automaker more commonly known by its brand name, Subaru—for installation in automobiles sold in the United States and elsewhere.

Fukudome served as general manager of the Automotive Global Marketing Department of Fujikura from April 2001 to April 2006. Nagashima was manager of the Fujikura Wire Harness Center in Ohta, Japan, from July 1994 to April 2006, and general manager of the Automotive Global Marketing Department from April 2006 to April 2009.

Fujikura Ltd. is a Toyko-based manufacturer of automotive wire harnesses, electrical distribution systems used to direct and control electronic components, wiring, and circuit boards. Fujikura pleaded guilty to its role in the conspiracy in June 2012, and was sentenced to pay a $20 million criminal fine.

From at least as early as September 2005 until at least February 2010, Fukudome, Nagashima, and their co-conspirators attended meetings in Japan to reach collusive agreements to rig bids and allocate the supply of automotive wire harnesses sold to Subaru, the indictment charged. Fukudome, Nagashima, and their co-conspirators allegedly had further communications to monitor and enforce the collusive agreements.

With today’s indictment, 11 companies and 18 executives have been charged in the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into the automotive parts industry. To date, more than $874 million in criminal fines have been imposed and 14 individuals have been sentenced to pay criminal fines and to serve prison sentences ranging from a year and a day to two years each. One other executive has agreed to serve time in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on September 25, 2013.

The charges are the result of 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 criminal enforcement sections of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the FBI.

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