KYB PLEADS GUILTY TO PRICE FIXING PRICE OF SHOCK ABSORBERS

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

KYB Agrees to Plead Guilty and Pay $62 Million Criminal Fine for Fixing Price of Shock Absorbers

Kayaba Industry Co. Ltd., dba KYB Corporation (KYB) has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $62 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix the price of shock absorbers installed in cars and motorcycles sold to U.S. consumers.

According to charges filed today, KYB conspired from the mid-1990s until 2012 to fix the prices of shock absorbers sold to Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (manufacturer of Subaru vehicles), Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., Nissan Motor Company Ltd., Suzuki Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Company, including their subsidiaries in the United States.

“KYB turned the competitive process on its head by agreeing with its competitors to fix the prices of shock absorbers installed in cars and motorcycles sold in the U.S.,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “Working with the FBI and our other law enforcement partners, the Antitrust Division will continue to protect American car buyers and hold automotive part suppliers accountable for their illegal conduct.”

“Any collusive agreement among competitors to restrict price competition undercuts our free enterprise system and violates the law,” said U.S. Attorney Carter M. Stewart of the Southern District of Ohio.  “We will continue to work to prosecute these fraudulent arrangements in order to protect consumers’ right to free and open competition, particularly in the auto parts industry.”

“Fixing prices and rigging bids is against the law and ultimately harms consumers by artificially inflating prices and creating a corrupt marketplace,” said Special Agent in Charge Angela L. Byers of the FBI’s Cincinnati Division.  “The FBI and our partners will continue to investigate anticompetitive practices and promote fair competition.”

According to the information filed in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Ohio, KYB, based in Tokyo, and its two co-conspirators agreed to allocate the supply of shock absorbers sold and determine the price submitted to the targeted vehicle manufacturers.  To keep prices up, KYB and its co-conspirators also agreed to coordinate on price adjustments requested by the vehicle manufacturers and strived to keep their conduct secret.

Today’s charge is the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement sections and the FBI.  KYB has agreed to cooperate with the department’s ongoing investigation and the plea agreement is subject to court approval.  Including KYB, 37 companies and 55 executives have been charged in the division’s ongoing investigation and have agreed to pay a total of more than $2.6 billion in criminal fines.  KYB is being prosecuted by the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Office and the FBI’s Cincinnati Field Office, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Ohio.