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 U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division has issued more business review letters in 2020 than in any year since 2002. Recent years have averaged only one letter. So why is there this sudden interest in a statement of the Antitrust Division’s enforcement intentions with respect to proposed business conduct? Concerns about how the Antitrust…
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. …
Medical supply distributors McKesson Corporation, Owens & Minor Inc., Cardinal Health Inc., Medline Industries Inc., and Henry Schein Inc. have received approval from the Department of Justice Antitrust Division to collaborate on manufacturing, sourcing, and distributing personal-protective equipment (PPE) and coronavirus-treatment-related medication. On April 4, the Antitrust Division issued to these companies its first business…
Consent decree reform has been a hallmark of the Makan Delrahim Antitrust Division. For two years, the head of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division has undertaken efforts to terminate legacy consent decrees and to streamline consent decree enforcement procedures. The agency has retired hundreds of legacy antitrust judgments. Currently, the agency is seeking to…
This article follows up on an October 15, 2019 article by the author on a reported investigation by the DOJ Antitrust Division into possible ‘collusion’ by four carmakers in entering into a framework agreement with the State of California on emissions standards. What the government antitrust enforcers choose not to pursue may be as revealing…
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…
At a historic moment in the country when political winds are doing flips, turning impossible corners and reaching even weather forecasting, it is imperative that law enforcement remain solidly grounded in fact and the law. An abiding hope, maybe now more than ever, and no less true for antitrust, especially given its economic and marketplace…
Traditionally, September has been a month in which the heads of the federal antitrust agencies speak at annual conferences, highlighting their agencies’ accomplishments. This September was no exception. Earlier this month, both Makan Delrahim, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division, and FTC Chairman Joe Simons discussed their plans for releasing antitrust guidance…
