Bid Rigging and Price Fixing Lands G.S. Electech Exec Behind Bars
A former executive of Japanese auto parts maker G.S. Electech Inc. has pleaded guilty to his role in an international conspiracy to rig bids and fix prices on auto parts used on antilock brake systems installed in U.S. cars.
Shingo Okuda, the former Engineering and Sales Division Manager for G.S. Electech, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky in Covington, to a one-count charge of bid rigging and price fixing.
As part of his plea agreement, Okuda agreed to cooperate with the investigation and to pay a $20,000 criminal fine. He was also sentenced to serve 13 months in a U.S. prison.
The conspiracy, which lasted from at least January 2003 until at least February 2010, involved Okuda and his co-conspirators agreeing to coordinate bids and fix prices of automotive parts submitted to Toyota Motor Corp. and Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America Inc.
The investigation, which is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal I Section and the FBI, has already led to the indictment of 36 individuals and the guilty pleas of 27 companies, with a total of nearly $2.3 billion in fines.
Okuda is the first individual in the investigation to plead guilty following an indictment. The Antitrust Division remains committed to holding executives accountable for behavior that undermines the competitive marketplace, said Brent Snyder, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program.
The Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center is urging anyone with information on price fixing, bid rigging, and other anticompetitive conduct related to other products in the automotive parts industry to contact them at 1-888-647-3258 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html or call the FBI’s Detroit Field Office at 313-965-2323.
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