The lawsuit claims that Defendants entered into agreements to artificially raise, fix, or stabilize the prices of aluminum, tantalum, and film capacitors (“Capacitors”) in violation of federal antitrust law.
Each of the Defendants, including the Settling Defendants, expressly denies all allegations with the exception:
(a) January 21, 2016, NEC TOKIN pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to fix prices of certain electrolytic capacitors
(b) June 9, 2016, Hitachi Chemical Co. pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to fix prices of certain electrolytic capacitors
(c) October 11, 2017, ELNA Co. and Holy Stone Holdings pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to fix prices of certain electrolytic capacitors
(d) October 12, 2017, Rubycon Corp. pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to fix prices of certain electrolytic capacitors
(e) October 25, 2017, Matsuo Electric Co. pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to fix prices of certain electrolytic capacitors
(f) November 8, 2017, Nichicon Corp. pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to fix prices of certain electrolytic capacitors
(g) May 30, 2018, Nippon Chemi-Con pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to fix prices of certain electrolytic capacitors
(h) Panasonic reported itself to the United States Department of Justice and acknowledged that it and SANYO Electric which was previously a separate entity but was acquired by Panasonic, had violated the antitrust laws of the United States in relation to the prices of certain capacitors.