World Bearing Association Members Plead Guilty to Price-Fixing in US

WBA Members Jtekt Corporation (Koyo) and NSK Ltd. agreed to plead guilty for their roles in conspiracies to fix the prices products sold to U.S. car manufacturers.

J• Jtekt Corporation to pay a $103.27 million criminal fine;

According to a two-count felony charge, Jtekt and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy, by agreeing during meetings and conversations, to allocate markets, to rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of bearings it sold to Toyota and electric powered steering assemblies it sold to Nissan, in the United States and elsewhere. According to the charge, Jtekt and its co-conspirators carried out the bearings conspiracy from 2000 until July 2011 and the steering assemblies conspiracy from 2005 until October 2011.

Jtekt manufactures and sells bearings and steering assemblies.  Bearings are widely used in industry in numerous applications for many products.  Bearings reduce friction and help components to roll smoothly past on another.  Electric powered steering assemblies provide electric power to help the driver more easily steer the automobile.  Electric powered steering assemblies link the steering wheel to the tires, and include the column, intermediate shaft and electronic control unit, among other parts, but do not include the steering wheel or tires.

• NSK Ltd. to pay a $68.2 million criminal fine;

According to a one-count felony charge, NSK and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy, by agreeing during meetings and conversations, to allocate markets, to rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of bearings it sold to Toyota, in the United States and elsewhere.  NSK manufactures and sells bearings.  According to the charge, NSK and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy from 2000 until July 2011.

SKF and Schaeffler Set Aside Large Sums for Price-Fixing Fines

Following an investigation by the EU of price-fixing allegation against two of the world's major bearing manufacturers, both have set aside substantial amounts for expected fines in 2014.  SKF reports that it intends to set aside $455 million and Schaeffler reports that it is setting aside $519 million.  This is not the first time that these two companies have had to pay fines for price-fixing.  In 2003 they paid fines of 19 million Euros plus for the same type of anti-competitive behavior.

There seems to be a rash of such anti-competitive behavior going on in the bearing industry lately. Investigations have sprung up in various countries involving most of the major bearing manufacturing companies.  In Japan corporate leaders for manufacturers of four well-known brands (NTN, NSK, Koyo and Nachi) faced criminal charges for price-fixing activities they engaged in.  Later Canada had similar investigations.  The USA Department of Justice is investigating allegations of similar activities in that country. Singapore has its own investigation going on.  It appears that price-fixing and anti-competitive behavior are rampant in the bearing industry world wide especially among the larger manufacturers of well known brands.  I really have to wonder if a company has no problem engaging in illegal price fixing might they also be willing to engage in other dishonest behavior if they thought it would boost their profits.

Price-Fixing Alleged Among Bearing Manufacturers

This story began when the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) initiated an investigation in July of 2011 into the possibility that price fixing might be going on in the automotive bearing industry.  Apparently, in Japan, the first conspirator to come forward and admit to a conspiracy is rewarded with some leniency.  In this case the first company to crumble was JKETK Corporation (Koyo),  which admitted to engaging in price-fixing with three other Japanese manufacturers.  It is reported that this admission was made before the investigation began.  The three alleged co-consirators were NTN, NSK, and Nachi.  It has been reported that certain executives from these three companies are facing criminal charges in Japan.  Japan has broadened the investigation to include industrial machinery bearings.

Meanwhile, the JFTC alerted both US and European investigators to what was going on and these began their own investigations.  The United States Department of Justice ("DOJ") has instituted a criminal investigation regarding the anti-competitive conduct in the market for automotive bearings and the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") has participated in raids, pursuant to search warrants, carried out in some of the defendants' offices in connection with a probe into the automotive industry.  The European Commission Competition Authority ("EC") has also conducted dawn raids at the European offices of several of the defendants.

A civil class action lawsuit has been filed in the USA against six of the seven members of the World Bearing Association. The defendants include:  JTEKT Corporation (Koyo); Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp and Nachi-Fujikoshi America; NSK Ltd.; Schaeffler AG; AB SKF; NTN Corp; and NTN USA.  The initial suit is for Automotive bearings, but it is possible that it may be expanded to include industrial bearings as well.

It is interesting to note that it is not the first time such price-fixing allegations have been made against any of these defendants.