Hiroshi Yoshida, Price-Fixing and Bid-Rigging, Ohio 2012

Grimy Times has learned that an executive at an Ohio-based automobile parts supplier pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids of anti-vibration rubber parts sold in the United States and elsewhere.

An investigation by the Antitrust Division has revealed that Hiroshi Yoshida, a Japanese national employed at the Ohio-based U.S. subsidiary of an automobile anti-vibration rubber supplier headquartered in Saitama, Japan, participated in a conspiracy to rig bids for, and to fix prices of, automobile anti-vibration rubber parts sold in the United States and elsewhere.

According to the plea agreement, Yoshida’s involvement in the conspiracy began at least as early as October 2005 and continued until at least June 2011. The conspiracy involved agreeing, in meetings and discussions, to allocate the supply of certain automobile anti-vibration rubber parts, to exchange prices, to submit noncompetitive bids and to sell the parts at collusive and noncompetitive prices in the United States and elsewhere.

The plea agreement also states that Yoshida has agreed to serve 12 months and one day in a U.S. prison, to pay a $20,000 criminal fine and to cooperate with the department’s ongoing investigation.

Yoshida’s sentencing is scheduled to take place on December 20, 2012, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, in Toledo. The Antitrust Division’s investigation into anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry is ongoing.

This is the first charge in the division’s investigation into anticompetitive conduct involving automotive parts used to reduce engine and road vibration, and the aim of this multi-year conspiracy was to do away with competition among suppliers, through bid rigging and price fixing, in order to maximize profits.

The FBI’s Cleveland Division has committed to working with the Antitrust Division to keep this industry and other critical industries competitive by aggressively pursuing any conspiracy in Northern Ohio that undermines free competition and our economy.

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