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South Korea: Third K-Line exec cops plea

By  |  March 29, 2015

Toru Otoda, a Japanese shipping executive at Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd (K Line), pleaded guilty on Thursday to price-fixing and bid-rigging the sale of international shipments of ro-ro cargo to and from the U.S. and other countries. He was sentenced to an 18-month prison term and fined $20,000.

Otoda is the third K Line executive to be sentenced to prison time for a conspiracy that began in February 1997. He pleaded guilty to the charges of coordinating with executives from other companies to divvy up clients and adjust shipping prices for cars to and from the U.S. Otoda is reported to have been part of the conspiracy from November 2010 through September 2012.

Otoda was charged under the Sherman Act, which was put in place to prevent the artificial adjustment of prices by limiting trade or supply, and nefarious dealings intended to produce monopoly.

 

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