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…
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…
Those familiar with this blog have seen a number of posts questioning the Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s long-standing position that a company shouldn’t be rewarded for having a corporate compliance program that fails it. Last week, the Antitrust Division announced that it will now consider corporate compliance at the charging stage of criminal antitrust…
Last Friday, the 67th American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law Spring Meeting wrapped up in Washington, D.C., with the annual enforcers roundtable. Much of the discussion by the heads of leading competition authorities at the closing program was focused on competition issues raised by the world’s tech giants. The heads of the Department of…
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. last week concluded that the government failed to prove that the combination of AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Inc. would violate Sec. 7 of the Clayton Act. A decision of the federal district court in Washington, D.C. denying the Antitrust Division’s request to enjoin the deal has been affirmed….
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…
In an earlier post I discussed the Fiscal Year 2018 Antitrust Division statistics for criminal cases filed and noted that they were down dramatically (here). This is not a one year drop off, but a trend since the high water mark of 2015 (here). It is not just case filings that are down, but also…
On August 20, 2018 the Antitrust Division announced in a press release (here) the return of an indictment (here) against a real estate company, a realtor and an accountant that does not include a charge of violating the Sherman Act. The press release states: [T]he Detloffs devised a scheme requiring repair contractors to pay the…
The DOJ issued a standard press release yesterday announcing yet another individual guilty plea in its long running real estate foreclosure auction collusion investigation: Seventh Mississippi Real Estate Investor Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Rig Bids at Public Foreclosure Auctions. According to the press release to date there have been “convictions of well over 100 other…
In a five-to-four decision yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Department of Justice Antitrust Division and several states failed to prove that so-called “anti-steering” provisions imposed by American Express Company on merchants that accept AmEx cards harmed competition in violation of federal antitrust law. The Court, in an opinion authored by Justice Clarence…
