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US: Japan’s Minebea guilty of price fixing

By  |  February 2, 2015

Japan’s Minebea Co Ltd has agreed to plead guilty to fixing the prices of ball bearings and to pay a $13.5 million criminal fine, the DOJ said on Monday.

Minebea’s decision to plead guilty is the latest in a series of probes by antitrust enforcers globally into price-fixing of more than 30 types of car parts.

Minebea’s plea brings to 34 the number of companies which have been charged with fixing prices of auto parts in the United States. It had been accused of conspiring with an unnamed competitor to set the prices of ball bearings from 2008 to 2011.

In addition to the companies, 50 executives of auto parts companies have either pleaded guilty or been indicted in the investigation.

 

Full Content: Corporate Crime Reporter

 

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