$35.8M Fine for Japanese Auto Parts Company – Violation of Sherman Act
The Department of Justice advised that an automotive parts manufacturer [Aisin] based in Japan has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $35.8 million criminal fine for allocating customers of variable valve timing [VVT] devices sold to automobile manufacturers in the United States and elsewhere. Aisin’s involvement in the conspiracy lasted from as early as September 2000 until at least February 2010. The plea agreement is subject to court approval.
According to a DOJ press release, the company and its co-conspirators allegedly held meetings and conversations to discuss and agree upon the customers to whom each would sell the devices as well as the bids and price quotations each would submit for VVT devices.
From DOJ:
Including Aisin, 31 companies and 46 individuals have been charged in the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into the automotive parts industry. All 31 companies have either pleaded guilty or have agreed to plead guilty and have agreed to pay more than $2.4 billion in criminal fines. Of the 46 individuals, 26 have been sentenced to serve time in U.S. prisons or have entered into plea agreements calling for significant prison sentences.
Aisin is charged with violating of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty of a $100 million criminal fine for corporations. The Sherman Act is the first Anti-Trust Law – From the Federal Trade Commission:
Congress passed the first antitrust law, the Sherman Act, in 1890 as a “comprehensive charter of economic liberty aimed at preserving free and unfettered competition as the rule of trade.”
To read more about this case: DOJ
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