Ex-Denso Exec Pleads Guilty in Price-Fixing Probe

A former Denso Corp. sales manager in the U.S. will go to prison after admitting he deleted five months of Denso e-mails to competitors asking to see requests for quotes from Toyota Motor Corp., says the U.S. Dept. of Justice.

Kazuaki Fujitani, former head of Denso's Toyota sales unit in the U.S., has agreed to serve one year and one day on a single charge of obstructing justice. He faced a maximum $250,000 fine and 20 years in prison.

Denso, which is 22% owned by Toyota, agreed in 2012 to pay $78 million for conspiring to fix prices on electronic controllers and heater control panels.

Fujitani's conviction brings to 29 the number of supplier company executives charged or convicted by the Justice Dept. as part of a worldwide antitrust probe of rigged prices on dozens of automotive components. So far 26 companies have pleaded guilty or agreed to do so and are paying $2.3 billion in fines.