On November 29, 2021 in U.S. v. Neeraj Jindal and John Rodgers, Civil Action No. 4:20-CR-00358A (N.D. Texas), District Court Judge Amos L. Mazzant rejected defendants’ motion to dismiss the indictment on various grounds, including challenges to the per se rule. Among other arguments, defendants argued that “wage-fixing” was not covered by the Sherman Act…
In an October 16, 2016 FTC/DOJ press release: FTC and DOJ Release Guidance for Human Resource Professionals on How Antitrust Law Applies to Employee Hiring and Compensation the Antitrust Division first announced: “Going forward, the Justice Department intends to criminally investigate naked no-poaching or wage-fixing agreements that are unrelated or unnecessary to a larger legitimate collaboration between…
At an October 1, 2021 in-person conference (Fordham’s 48th Annual Conference on International Antitrust Law and Policy) Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard A. Powers of the Antitrust Division spoke about the history of and Antitrust Division’s commitment to enforcing the antitrust laws, including criminal enforcement, in labor markets: “If it was important for enforcers to…
The Supreme Court’s decision in Nat’l Collegiate Athletic Ass’n v. Alston, Nos. 20-512 and 20-520, 2021 WL 2519036, (U.S. June 21, 2021) is a boost for the Antitrust Division’s commitment to prosecute what it calls naked “wage fixing” and “no poach” agreements. In the prosecutions it has brought to date (still in the early stages)…
Congratulations to Senator Chuck Grassley and Patrick Leahy for the passage in the House of Representatives of their bipartisan legislation that has already passed the Senate that aims to protect whistleblowers who come forward with information on criminal antitrust violations. In a December 8, 2020 Press Release Senator Grassley said, “The Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act encourages and…
A. The Broiler Chicken Civil Litigation/Criminal Indictment On June 3, 2020, a grand jury in Colorado returned an indictment charging executives from Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation and Claxton Poultry Farms with fixing prices and rigging bids nationwide for broiler chickens [I wonder how the grand jury met? Zoom?] The case was filed in the…
US v. Lischewski, Case No. 3:18-cr-00203-EMC (N.D. Cal.) Christopher Lischewski, the former CEO of Bumble Bee who was convicted of price fixing after a trial last December, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 16, 2020. The government has requested a guidelines sentence of eight to ten years in prison and a $1 million fine. …
A petition for review is before the Supreme Court filed by three California real estate investors who were convicted after trial under Section 1 of the Sherman Act for bid rigging at real estate foreclosure auctions. The defendants preserved their objection that the application of the per se rule was unconstitutional because it took an…
There has been a great deal of publicity surrounding the Antitrust Division’s recent announcement that a corporation involved in a criminal antitrust violation may get credit for an antitrust compliance program if certain conditions are met. The credit may include a DPA (Deferred Prosecution Agreement: the government reaches a plea agreement with the defendant; files…
United States v. Kemp & Associates and Daniel Mannix, Case No., 2:16-cr-403 (DS). JudgeSamPerSeMemorandum On August 17, 2016 the defendants in this case were indicted on one count of violating §1 of the Sherman Act by agreeing to allocate customers of heir location services sold in the United States. Utah District Court Judge David Sam initially…
