Yazaki Executive Agrees to Plead Guilty to Price Fixing

An executive of Tokyo-based Yazaki Corp. agreed to plead guilty for his role in a conspiracy to fix prices of auto components sold in cars in the U.S., the Justice Department said.

Toshio Sudo, a Japanese national, was charged with engaging in a conspiracy to rig bids and prices for instrument panel clusters, also known as meters, made by the closely held company, the Justice Department said today in an e-mailed statement.

Sudo agreed to serve a 14-month jail sentence in the U.S., pay a $20,000 fine and cooperate with the continuing probe into bid rigging and price fixing in the auto-parts industry.

Including today’s plea agreement, the Justice Department has charged seven companies, 11 people and secured fines for more than $785 million in connection with antitrust violations in the industry.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sara Forden in Washington at sforden@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net.