Corning Japanese Unit Pleads Guilty in U.S. Car-Parts Probe

   By Maria Armental 
 

Corning Inc.'s Japanese unit has agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to fix prices and pay a fine of $66.5 million, as part of a long-running, industry-wide federal crackdown on the auto-parts industry.

Under the settlement, subject to court approval, Corning admitted to the civil violation, saying a former employee "acted secretly and alone" in fixing the market for ceramic substrates, used in catalytic converters for cars sold in the U.S. by Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Honda Motor Co.

Last week, a federal grand jury indicted a former Corning executive at its Kabushiki Kaisha unit on a federal charge of conspiring to increase revenue and eliminate competition through price-fixing and bid-rigging over a roughly 12-year period through July 2011.

The Justice Department's auto-parts probe has focused on price-fixing in an array of products, from instrument panels to air bags and steering wheels. To date, the U.S. investigation has produced more than $2.6 billion in criminal fines.

Write to Maria Armental at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 16, 2016 15:28 ET (19:28 GMT)

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