Nishikawa Rubber will plead guilty and pay a $130 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix the prices of and rig the bids for automotive body sealing products installed in cars sold to U.S. consumers.

Federal officials alleged that Nishikawa conspired to fix the prices and rig bids of automotive body sealing products sold to Honda Motor Company Ltd., Toyota Motor Corporation, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (Subaru) and certain of their subsidiaries and affiliates in the United States and elsewhere.

Automotive body sealing products consist of body-side opening seals, door-side weather-stripping, glass-run channels, trunk lids and other smaller seals, which are installed into automobiles to keep the interior dry from rain and free from wind and exterior noises.

“Nishikawa has agreed to pay a steep price for its participation in a conspiracy that victimized consumers in both the United States and Canada,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent Snyder of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “However, Nishikawa deserves credit for acknowledging their conduct, accepting responsibility and charting a new path toward compliance and remediation.”

The Antitrust Division and the Canadian Competition Bureau were able to identify affected sales of automotive body sealing products manufactured in the United States and then shipped to Canada for assembly into automobiles that were imported into the United States.

These sales were included as affected commerce for purposes of calculating Nishikawa’s fine.

Because of the particular facts of this case, including that Nishikawa’s conduct primarily targeted the United States and because the fine imposed today is an effective remedy in the United States and Canada, once final judgment is entered in this case, the Commissioner of the Competition Bureau of Canada will exercise his discretion to not pursue further enforcement action against Nishikawa in Canada for this conduct.