Nine parts makers plead guilty to price-fixing scheme [View all]
Source: NBC News
Michael Strong, The Detroit Bureau,
Nine Japan-based firms and two executives have agreed to plead guilty and pay fines totaling more than $740 million for their roles in an international price-fixing scheme that provided parts to U.S. automakers, according to the Department of Justice.
“These international price-fixing conspiracies affected more than $5 billion in automobile parts sold to U.S. car manufacturers, and more than 25 million cars purchased by American consumers were affected by the illegal conduct,” Attorney General Eric Holder in a statement Thursday. “The Department of Justice will continue to crack down on cartel behavior that causes American consumers and businesses to pay higher prices for the products and services they rely upon in their everyday lives.”
The pleadings and fines are the result of a long-running investigation that focused on price-fixing on a variety of components including instrument panels, air bags and steering wheels. The probe has expanded over time as implicated auto-parts companies have presented evidence of price fixing in other previously undiscovered schemes.
The first charges were filed in 2011. With Thursday’s agreements, 20 companies have agreed to pay more than $1.6 billion in criminal fines. Seventeen of the 21 charged executives have been sentenced to U.S. prisons or entered into plea agreements calling for significant prison sentences.
Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/nine-car-part-makers-plead-guilty-price-fixing-scheme-8C11268194
Surprise, Surprise...really now
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