Three high-level executives of Tokyo-based Takata Corp. have agreed to plead guilty for their participation in a price fixing conspiracy concerning cars sold in the United States, the Department of Justice said today. According to the one-count felony charges filed separately against Yasuhiko Ueno, Saborou Imamiya and Yoshinobu Fujino, each participated in a price fixing conspiracy on seatbelts sold to Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., Fuji Heavy Industries Inc., aka Subaru, and Mazda Motor Corp. in the United States and elsewhere.
The three executives have agreed to serve prison sentences ranging from 14 to 19 months, and to cooperate with the department’s ongoing investigation. The charges were filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit.
In a related development, DOJ also said that a Cleveland federal grand jury returned an indictment against two executives of an un-named Japanese automotive supplier for their roles in an international conspiracy to fix prices of automotive anti-vibration rubber parts sold to Toyota and installed in U.S. cars.
Masao Hayashi and Kenya Nonoyama, both Japanese nationals, are charged with participating in a price fixing conspiracy covering anti-vibration rubber parts sold to Toyota Motor Corp., Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc. and affiliated companies for installation in automobiles manufactured and sold in the United States. The indictment was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in Toledo.
Yamashita Rubber Company was indicted earlier this year for price fixing and bid rigging of automotive anti-vibration rubber products it sold in the United States and elsewhere to Honda Motor Company, American Honda Motor Company Inc. and Suzuki Motor Corporation. According to the charge, Yamashita Rubber Co. and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy from at least April 2003 until May 2012. (see Nine Japanese Auto Parts Firms Guilty of Price Fixing)
Including Hayashi and Nonoyama, 21 companies and 26 executives thus far have been charged in the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into the automotive parts industry. To date, more than $1.6 billion in criminal fines have been obtained and seventeen of the charged executives have been sentenced to serve time in U.S. prisons or have entered into plea agreements calling for significant prison sentences.
