Hitachi Metals Ltd. Guilty in Price Fixing Scandal

Hitachi Metals Ltd. Guilty in Price Fixing Scandal

Hitachi Metals Ltd., a Tokyo-based automotive parts manufacturer, has pleaded guilty to price fixing and bid rigging in the U.S. automotive parts market, according to a guilty plea announced today by federal authorities.

Hitachi Metals has agreed to pay a $1.25 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids for automotive brake hose installed in cars sold in the United States and elsewhere. The plea agreement will be subject to court approval.

According to the one-count felony charge filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in Toledo, Hitachi conspired to fix the prices of automotive brake hose sold to Toyota Motor Corporation and certain of its subsidiaries, affiliates, and suppliers.

Hitachi’s involvement in the automotive brake hose conspiracy lasted from at least as early as November 2005 until at least September 2009. The charges against Hitachi are the latest in the federal government’s ongoing investigation into anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry.

“Today’s guilty plea demonstrates the Antitrust Division’s commitment to hold companies accountable for engaging in illegal anticompetitive conduct,” said Brent Snyder, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program. “The division is dedicated to its mission to protect U.S. consumers and businesses.”

In addition to the criminal fine, Hitachi has agreed to cooperate in the federal government’s ongoing investigation. To date, 44 individuals have been charged in the government’s ongoing investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in the auto parts industry. Including Hitachi, 30 companies have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty and have agreed to pay a total of nearly $2.4 billion in fines.

Hitachi is charged with price fixing and bid rigging in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty for corporations of a $100 million criminal fine for each violation. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

Anyone with information on price fixing, bid rigging, and other anticompetitive conduct related to other products in the automotive parts industry should contact the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 1-888-647-3258 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html.