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`JUSTICE NEWS
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`Department of Justice
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`Office of Public Affairs
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`FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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`Thursday, September 29, 2011
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`Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd. and Three Executives Agree to Plead Guilty
`to Automobile Parts Price-Fixing and Bid-Rigging Conspiracy
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`Company Agrees to Pay $200 Million Criminal Fine; Executives Agree to Serve Prison Time
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`WASHINGTON — Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd., a supplier of automotive wire harnesses and related products,
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`headquartered in Tokyo, has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $200 million fine for its role in a criminal
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`price-fixing and bid-rigging conspiracy involving the sale of parts to automobile manufacturers, the
`Department of Justice announced. Three executives, who are Japanese nationals, have also agreed to
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`plead guilty and to serve prison time in the United States ranging from a year and a day to 18 months.
`These are the department's first charges as a result of its ongoing international cartel investigation of price
`fixing and bid rigging in the auto parts industry.
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`According to four separate one-count felony charges filed today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District
`of Michigan in Detroit, Furukawa and its executives — Junichi Funo, Hirotsugu Nagata and Tetsuya Ukai —
`engaged in a conspiracy to rig bids for and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of automotive wire
`harnesses and related products sold to customers in the United States and elsewhere. Automotive wire
`harnesses are automotive electrical distribution systems used to direct and control electronic components,
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`wiring and circuit boards in cars.
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`"As a result of this international price-fixing and bid-rigging conspiracy, automobile manufacturers paid
`noncompetitive and higher prices for parts in cars sold to U.S. consumers," said Sharis A. Pozen, Acting
`Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. “This cartel harmed
`an important industry in our nation's economy, and the Antitrust Division with the Federal Bureau of
`Investigation will continue to work together to ensure that these kinds of conspiracies are stopped."
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`"When companies partner to control and price fix bids or contracts, it undermines the foundation of the
`United States‘ economic system," said FBl's Special Agent in Charge Andrew G. Arena. “The FBI is
`committed to aggressively pursuing any company involved in antitrust crimes."
`I
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`According to the plea agreements, which are subject to court approval, Furukawa, Funo, Nagata and Ukai
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`Furukawa has agreed to plead guilty for its role in a conspiracy to rig bids for and to fix the prices of the sale
`of automotive wire harnesses and related products sold to automobile manufacturers in the United States
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`and elsewhere. The department said that Furukawa participated in the conspiracy from at least as early as
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`January 2000, until at least January 2010.
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`According to the plea agreements, Funo, Nagata and Ukai have agreed to plead guilty for their roles in the
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`conspiracy and to serve prison time in the United States of a year and a day, 15 months and 18 months,
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`respectively. The department said that Funo, Nagata and Ukai participated in the conspiracy at various
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`times from at least as early as April 2003, until at least July 2009. Funo worked in the Honda sales division
`of Furukawa in Japan and in the United States as a sales representative, assistant general manager and
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`manager. Nagata was employed by a Furukawa subsidiary in the United States as a general manager of
`sales and chief financial officer, and by a related joint venture as marketing manager. Ukai worked in Japan
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`in the Honda sales division of Furukawa as a manager, unit chief and general manager.
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`During at least part of the conspiracy period, Funo and Nagata were employed and engaged in price fixing
`in the Detroit area.
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`According to court documents, Furukawa, Nagata, Funo, Ukai and their co-conspirators carried out the
`conspiracy by agreeing, during meetings and conversations, to allocate the supply of wire harnesses and
`related products on a model-by-model basis and to coordinate price adjustments requested by automobile
`manufacturers in the United States and elsewhere. They sold automotive wire harnesses and related
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`products to automobile manufacturers at noncompetitive prices and engaged in meetings and
`conversations for the purpose of monitoring and enforcing adherence to the agreed-upon bid-rigging and
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`price-fixing scheme.
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`Furukawa is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum $100 million
`criminal fine for a corporation. Funo, Nagata and Ukai are also charged with a violation of the Sherman Act,
`which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine for an individual. The
`maximum fine for both a company and an individual may be increased to twice the gain derived from the
`crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the
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`statutory maximum fine.
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`Today's charges are the first to arise from an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into bid rigging, price
`fixing and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by the
`Antitrust Division's National Criminal Enforcement Section, and the FBl's Detroit Field Office. Anyone with
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`information concerning the focus of this investigation is urged to call the Antitrust Division's National
`Criminal Enforcement Section at 202-307-6694@ or the FBl's Detroit Field Office at 313-965-2323@.
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`11-1279
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`Updated September 15, 2014