More Guilty Pleas in U.S. Department of Justice Auto Parts
Probe
High on the Foley & Lardner LLP priority list of top
antitrust
issues facing automotive suppliers for 2014 was the broad and
aggressive criminal antitrust investigation of the auto parts
industry by the U.S. Department of Justice.
As Foley reported then, the wide-ranging investigation had by
the end of 2013 snared 24 companies and 26 individuals. Fines
totaling more than $1.6 billion dollars in fines and substantial
jail time for the individuals, many foreign nationals who had been
convicted are serving substantial jail time.
The Department of Justice promised that this investigation would
continue unabated and indeed it has. During the month of February
2014, two more companies agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to
fix prices of auto parts. On February 3, 2014 Aisan Industries Co.,
Inc. pled guilty to fixing the prices of electronic throttle bodies
sold to Nissan Motors Co. Ltd. in the United
