Corning International Kabushiki Kaisha to Pay $66.5 Million for Fixing Prices of Automotive Parts

[nitpicker]

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/corning-international-kabushiki-kaisha-pay-665-million-fixing-prices-automotive-parts

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 16, 2016

Corning International Kabushiki Kaisha to Pay $66.5 Million for Fixing Prices of Automotive Parts

Corning International Kabushiki Kaisha (Corning International K.K.) has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $66.5 million criminal fine for conspiring to fix prices, rig bids and allocate the market for ceramic substrates sold in the United States and elsewhere, and used in catalytic converters supplied to automobile manufacturers in the United States and elsewhere, the Justice Department announced today.

According to the felony charge filed today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Corning International K.K., based in Tokyo, conspired to fix prices, rig bids and allocate the market for ceramic substrates, from at least as early as July 1999 until on or about July 2011. The products were installed in automotive emissions control systems and supplied to automobile manufacturers including Ford Motor Company, General Motors LLC, Honda Motor Company Ltd., and certain of their subsidiaries, affiliates, and suppliers in the United States and elsewhere. Corning International K.K. agreed to cooperate in the department’s ongoing investigation. The plea agreement will be subject to court approval.
(snip)

Including Corning International K.K., 40 companies have been charged in connection with this investigation and have agreed to pay more than $2.7 billion in criminal fines. In addition, 59 individuals have been charged, including a former executive of Corning International K.K. On May 11, 2016, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Michigan returned an indictment against Nobuhiko Niwa, a Japanese national, for his role in the conspiracy. Niwa was charged with participating in the conspiracy from at least as early as July 1999 until on or about July 2011.
(snip)

[Sherman A1]

1. Fines are nice, but restitution should be made to those affected and

more than a few folks need to go to jail.

[safeinOhio]

2. There is a good reason

why that hand is invisible.