Firm pleads guilty in compressor price-fixing

DETROIT (AP) -- A German company has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $3 million fine for its role in an international conspiracy involving price-fixing on compressors used in refrigerators and freezers. The Department of Justice says in a release last week that Danfoss Flensburg GmbH, formerly Danfoss Compressors GmbH, participated in a conspiracy to fix the prices of light commercial compressors sold in the U.S and elsewhere from as early as Oct. 14, 2004, until about Sept. 6, 2007. Danfoss also agreed to cooperate in an ongoing investigation. Danfoss is the third company to be charged in the conspiracy. Embraco, a division of Michigan-based Whirlpool, and Panasonic Corp. pleaded guilty last year and together agreed to pay $140 million. Published: Wed, Oct 12, 2011