DETROIT (May 13, 2016) — A former executive at a unit of Corning Inc. was charged with conspiring to fix prices and rig bids by a federal grand jury as part of the ongoing U.S. Justice Department's antitrust investigation of auto suppliers.
Nobuhiko Niwa was charged May 11 in U.S. District Court in Detroit with fixing prices and rigging bids on ceramic substrates used in emissions control systems sold to General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Honda Motor Co.
Mr. Niwa was the director of the mobile emissions division at Corning International K.K., a Japanese subsidiary of Corning, between July 1999 and July 2011, when the alleged crimes took place. A Corning spokesman said Mr. Niwa, a Japanese national, left the company in 2012.
His whereabouts were not immediately known. As many as 20 Japanese nationals indicted in similar U.S. cases have avoided prosecution by remaining in Japan. No known extraditions have taken place.