Just as I had predicted, yesterday Judge Donato sentenced Hitachi Chemical to pay a fine of $3.8 million for its role in the capacitor cartel.  OK, not much of a prediction as the $3.8 million fine was what the parties jointly agreed to recommend to the Court and it was an agreement pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(c)(1)(C), [“C” agreement for short] meaning Hitachi Chemical could withdraw its guilty plea if the Court did not impose that fine.

The Court did extend the term of Hitachi’s probation from 3 years jointly recommended in the plea agreement to 5 years.  That change did not give Hitachi Chemical the opportunity to void the plea agreement because “parties also agree[d] that the term and conditions of probation imposed by the Court will not void the plea agreement even if they are different from the recommended term and conditions.”  As part of its probation, Hitachi Chemical must develop and implement an effective antitrust compliance program as outlined in the United States Sentencing Guidelines.

In a previous capacitor corporate sentencing, Judge Donato expressed displeasure that the sentence did not include the imposition of a compliance monitor.   There was some speculation that he might insist on one for Hitachi Chemical but that did not materialize.  For earlier posts on this sentencing see Hitachi Plea Agreement Part 1 and Hitachi Plea Agreement: Part 2.