Tokyo based Bridgestone Corp. has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $425 million criminal fine for its role in a price fixing conspiracy covering automotive anti-vibration rubber parts installed in cars sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced today.
According to a one-count felony charge filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in Toledo, Bridgestone engaged in a conspiracy to allocate sales of and fix prices of automotive anti-vibration rubber parts it sold to Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Corp., Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., Suzuki Motor Corp., Isuzu Motors Ltd. and their subsidiaries, affiliates and suppliers, in the United States and elsewhere.
In addition to the criminal fine, Bridgestone also has agreed to cooperate with the department’s ongoing auto parts investigations. The plea agreement is subject to virtually certain court approval.
In October 2011, Bridgestone pleaded guilty and paid a $28 million fine for price-fixing and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations in the marine hose industry, but did not disclose at the time of the plea that it had also participated in the anti-vibration rubber parts conspiracy. Bridgestone’s failure to disclose this conspiracy was a factor in determining the $425 million fine.
“The Antitrust Division will take a hard line when repeat offenders fail to disclose additional anticompetitive behavior,” says Brent Snyder, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program.
According to the charges, Bridgestone and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy through meetings and conversations during which they discussed and agreed upon bids, prices and allocating sales of rubber products. After exchanging this information with its co-conspirators, Bridgestone submitted bids and prices in accordance with those agreements and accepted payments for automotive anti-vibration rubber parts at collusive and non-competitive prices. Bridgestone’s involvement in the conspiracy to fix prices of anti-vibration rubber parts lasted from at least January 2001 until at least December 2008.
Including Bridgestone, 26 companies have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty in the department’s ongoing investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in the automotive parts industry. The companies have agreed to pay a total of more than $2 billion in criminal fines. Additionally, 28 individuals have been charged.
