Mitsubishi Guilty of Aiding Price-Fixing

A federal jury in Philadelphia found Mitsubishi Corp. guilty of aiding an international price-fixing cartel for graphite electrodes used to make steel. The verdict caps a U.S. probe that has led to convictions of six companies and more than $300 million in criminal fines since 1998. Prosecutors said the cartel held secret meetings in luxury hotels around the globe and had code names for the conspirators in a plot that almost doubled the price of electrodes from 1992 to 1997. Graphite electrodes are used to heat scrap metal at high temperatures to make steel in small mills. U.S. District Judge Marvin Katz will determine the amount of the fine at a later date. The Justice Department previously secured guilty pleas from the world’s two leading manufacturers of graphite electrodes, UCAR International Inc. and Germany’s SGL Carbon. Both companies paid $245 million in fines. Four other Japanese companies or their U.S. units have also pleaded guilty and paid more than $40 million in fines. Mitsubishi, which owned 50% of UCAR from 1991 until 1995, asserted its innocence and forced a trial as the lone defendant that refused to make a deal with prosecutors. The company’s lead attorney said Mitsubishi intends to appeal the decision.