Overview of Current Cartel Investigations -

Several active US Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations resulted in criminal charges against individual executives in the second quarter of 2018. The DOJ’s total criminal fines collected continued to run significantly below the pace that had generated billion-dollar plus annual highs in 2014 and 2015, as DOJ put the massive auto parts and large foreign exchange fines further into its rear view mirror. At the current pace, DOJ’s annual fines for 2018 will likely end around $300 million. In the EU, the European Commission rendered one cartel decision in the second quarter of 2018, imposing fines on eight Japanese manufacturers of capacitors.