October 31, 2014
Posted January 22, 2016
Tokyo-based automotive parts manufacturer Hitachi Metals Ltd. pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a $1.25M criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids for automotive brake hoses sold to Toyota Motor Corporation and certain of its affiliates and suppliers in the US and elsewhere. The charges against Hitachi are the latest in the department’s on-going investigation into anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry. To date, 44 individuals have been charged and including Hitachi, 30 companies have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty and have agreed to pay a total of nearly $2.4B in fines. DOJ