G.S. Electech is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act.
Japan-based G.S. Electech Inc. has pled guilty of price fixing and will pay a $2.75 million criminal fine for its role as a supplier of auto parts used on antilock brake systems installed in U.S. cars, the Department of Justice announced today.
Including G.S. Electech, eight executives and four companies have now been charged and have agreed to plead guilty in the ongoing price fixing investigation so far. Three of the companies have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to pay criminal fines totaling more than $748 million. Seven of the executives have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to serve a total of more than 122 months in jail.
The Antitrust Division continues to uncover and prosecute illegal acts in its ongoing investigation into price fixing of auto parts.
According to a one-count felony charge filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, G.S. Electech, based in Toyota City, engaged in a price fixing conspiracy to rig bids of speed sensor wire assemblies. The components are installed on automobiles with an antilock brake system. The ABS parts were sold to an unnamed automaker in the United States and elsewhere.
G.S. Electech is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum fine of $100 million for corporations. The maximum fine for the company may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either is greater than the maximum fine.
According to the charge, G.S. Electech’s involvement in the conspiracy lasted from at least as early as January 2003 until at least February 2010. According to the plea agreement, subject to court approval, G.S. Electech will pay a criminal fine and cooperate with the department’s ongoing investigation.
“The Antitrust Division continues to uncover and prosecute illegal conduct in its ongoing and active investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in the auto parts industry,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Sharis A. Pozen in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.
