Eun Soo Kim, Automotive Parts Price Fixing, Georgia 2020

Eun Soo Kim, a former key accounts manager for Continental Automotive Korea Ltd., was extradited from Germany and pleaded guilty to his role in an international market allocation and bid-rigging conspiracy involving the sale of instrument panel clusters to several automobile producers.

Kim, a Korean national, was charged with conspiring to allocate sales of, rig bids for, and submit rigged and non-competitive bids for instrument panel clusters sold to Korean automobile producers and their subsidiaries in the United States and elsewhere. The instrument panel clusters contain gauges such as the speedometer, tachometer, odometer, and fuel gauge, as well as warning indicators for gearshift position, seat belt, parking-brake engagement, engine malfunction, low fuel, low oil pressure, and low tire pressure.

The conspiracy took place from at least as early as February 2008 until as late as May 2012. Kim ultimately consented to extradition and arrived in Atlanta on February 28, 2020.

Kim pleaded guilty before Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr. of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on March 2, 2020. He was sentenced to nine months in prison with credit for the time he was held in custody pending extradition and prior to sentencing, as well as a $130,000 criminal fine.

'Today's guilty plea further demonstrates our commitment at the Antitrust Division and shows that neither time nor distance provide refuge for executives who conspire to cheat American consumers,' said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim. 'The Antitrust Division will leave no stone unturned including working with enforcers around the world to bring to justice those who infect international markets with collusion.'

This case is the result of a federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry conducted by the Antitrust Division and the FBI. The investigation has led to charges against more than 100 companies and executives, with over $2.9 billion in criminal fines imposed and 32 individuals sentenced to prison terms ranging from a year and a day to two years.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/extradited-former-automotive-parts-executive-pleads-guilty-antitrust-charge