U.S. Indicts Fujikura Execs for Price Fixing

Two executives from Tokyo-based Fujikura Ltd. have been charged by a federal grand jury in Detroit with conspiring to manipulate the price of automotive wiring harnesses the company sold to Subaru maker Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.

The indictment says Ryoji Fukudome and Toshiko Nagashima met with others in Japan between 2005 and 2010 to rig bids. Each of the two face as much as $1 million in fines and 10 years in prison.

Fujikura pleaded guilty last year to charges about its role in the affair and paid a $20 million criminal penalty.

This week's charges against the two executives are the latest in a two-year-old global investigation into price fixing among automotive suppliers that involves authorities in the U.S., Europe and Japan. So far the U.S. has levied more than $885 million in fines against 13 guilty suppliers and sent 15 of their executives to prison for terms of one to two years.