Hiromu Usada has been accused of conspiring to rig bids for seatbelts sold to Japanese automakers Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda and Subaru parent Fuji Heavy Industries.
The agency claims Usada directed meetings with co-conspirators from at least 2005 through February 2011 or later. The group is said to have established collusive agreements to artificially inflate the prices of seatbelts.
The company itself already plead guilty late in 2013, resulting in a fine of $71.3 million USD. Four other executives pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to serve time in a US prison and pay fines.
The move is the latest action in a wider crackdown on price fixing in the automotive parts industry. The DoJ has charged 50 individuals and 32 different companies, with fines collectively totaling more than $2.4 billion.
“Antitrust violators who refuse to accept responsibility for their crimes leave us no choice but to indict,” said DoJ Antitrust Division deputy assistant attorney general Brent Snyder. “We will continue to prosecute those that commit these crimes.”
Leave a Reply