Law360, New York ( February 7, 2017, 11:43 AM EST) -- 2016 saw a significant decline in corporate fines in U.S. Department of Justice cartel investigations, as the global auto parts investigation slowed with no major, cross-border investigation to replace it. While the DOJ secured modest fines in the auto parts, ocean shipping cargo, and capacitors investigations, those numbers fell far below the record levels of 2015. On the individual prosecution front, 2016 saw fewer indictments of corporate executives and an increase in foreign executives deciding to face indictment rather than plead guilty and submit to this jurisdiction. The DOJ also obtained a handful of guilty pleas from corporate executives in two new domestic investigations into price-fixing in the generic drug and canned seafood industries....