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Price fixing probe to grow.

3K views 9 replies 9 participants last post by  caaraa 
#1 ·
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111026/OEM10/111029915/1491

>>>>>> DETROIT -- The federal government's probe into price-fixing in the U.S. auto supply chain could result in jail time for more executives and potentially billions of dollars in fines, lawyers representing suppliers involved in the investigation said today at an industry event in suburban Detroit.

Furukawa Electric Co.'s recent $200 million fine and jail time for three of its executives in relation to wire harness price fixing is just the tip of the iceberg, the lawyers said at the Society of Automotive Analysts event. One lawyer said the probe will go beyond wire harnesses.

Matthew Leitman, principal at Detroit law firm Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, said more pleas are in the works that will involve jail time for executives and fines substantially larger than Furukawa's. The fines potentially at stake in the probe could be in the billions, raising the stakes for the long-term impact on the supply chain.


Leitman said the raids instantly triggered a race among suppliers to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Justice because of U.S. regulations.

Amnesty for cooperation

Companies that cooperate first or early in the investigation are offered more leniency, he said. One supplier cooperated with the DOJ, uncovering collusion, and received complete amnesty.

He did not indentify the supplier.

The suppliers involved in the expansive global investigation into alleged collusion dating back to at least 2003 include: Yazaki North America Inc., Denso International America Inc. and Tokai Rika Group North America. Japan's Fair Trade Commission also raided the Tokyo offices of Furukawa, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. and Yazaki Corp. The European Commission conducted similar unannounced inspections of the European offices of TRW Automotive Inc. and supplier Lear Corp.

Delphi Automotive LLP was also named in class-action lawsuits over the alleged price-fixing.

Besides Furukawa, all the other companies are being investigated, but have yet to be charged.

The fines could cripple a supplier's bottom line, said George Donnini, shareholder at Detroit law firm Butzel Long. The government's guideline for price-fixing fines are up to $100 million or twice the income, he said. In this case, the government is assuming a 10-percent profit margin and doubling it, he said.

Beyond wire harnesses

The global automotive wiring harness market grew 32.2 percent to $29 billion last year from $21.9 billion in 2009, and could grow to $32 billion by 2012, according to the Global and China Automotive Wiring Harness Industry Report, 2010-2011, released by Dublin, Ireland-based tech analyst firm Research and Markets earlier this year.

Yazaki accounts for nearly 30 percent of the global wire harness market. Sumitomo was fastest-growing with 24 percent, while Delphi was third with about 16.7 percent global market share.

The price-fixing investigation isn't stopping at wire harnesses, Donnini said.

Suppliers involved in the alleged wire harness price-fixing have turned over information on fraudulent activity in other product lines to get leniency from the DOJ. If a company involved in price-fixing in other segments doesn't come forward in this case, stiffer penalties will be enforced, he said.

"In the anti-trust arena, they offer amnesty and leniency and it creates perverse incentives to be the first in the door," Donnini said



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#2 ·
Oh yeah, if pursued, this one has three sets of legs.

Now one of th e things that needs done - and has needed sayin' over what, the last two or so years ..... is to take a looky see at who owns what of the companies named - so far.


Oh and uh, their banking arrangements.


Big hint would be - clearly Honda was one of the bigger victims....... and if you really understand what happened to Nissan prior to Renault..... :)


Third clue ....


Like I've always said since joining GMI back in 2007 - " a criminal conspiracy that happens to sell a few cars...."

Even if they cut it short which I more than half expect they will - it's going to fun to watch - count on it.
 
#4 ·
Ok so if they are price fixing why is the government getting the money. Shouldn't the governments just make the companies give discounts to the companies they charged more too. Also why can't you charge one customer more than another customer this happens everywhere. If one person buys 1000 of one widget they get a cheaper price than someone who purchases 100 of the widgets.
 
#6 ·
This is a criminal case. I'm sure that, if/when guilt is established, the civil cases will come from the impacted automakers. Still, it's kind of like in the case of a capital offense, the convicted criminal gets prison time and a fine, with money going to whatever local, state, or Federal government that brought the case.

Charging different companies different prices is not illegal, nor is it the issue here. The problem is when companies get together (collusion) and decide how much they will all charge for their products.
 
#7 ·
This kind of collusion is standard operating procedure in Japan it seems and it looks like they were just continuing the practice in North America. I remember reading years ago that Japanese Television Manufacturers conspired with retailers by forming Keiretsus to keep American Televisions out of Japan in the 1960s and 1970s. This allowed them to keep high prices in Japan while they cut the prices below market in the US and Japanese retailers would not carry the US product. By the 1980 there were no TV manufacturers left in the United States. Zenith, Sylvania, RCA GE Westinghouse made high quality sets but when Sony Panasonic and JVC and others began to undercut the prices, the US mfgs had to close up shop. Keiretsus and other artificial trade barriers are keeping foreign cars out of Japan to this day as we all know.
 
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