A flurry of federal prosecutorial activity in late 2024, as well as a statement from several institutional stakeholders in a key federal initiative to combat procurement fraud, provided a valuable reminder for government...more
DOJ’s Antitrust Division has been relatively quiet in prosecuting criminal cartel or bid-rigging cases. Since 2015, the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement has fallen from the billions in penalties each year to the...more
With the end of summer and fall right around the corner, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Antitrust Division is gearing up for several crucial displays of its criminal enforcement priorities across multiple...more
In December 2022, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General announced a memorandum of understanding memorializing their...more
The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division has had a rough year in the criminal arena. While the Antitrust Division has aggressively blocked several proposed mergers, it has lost several significant criminal cases. ...more
Since the last edition of the QCC, there has been a series of dramatic developments in the criminal antitrust enforcement space in the U.S. from the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (Division)....more
The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division returned a criminal indictment against Seris Security and three executives, Danny Vandormael, CEO of Seris, Peter Verpoort, Director for Security at Seris, and Jean Paul Van...more
The European Union’s antitrust authority is reportedly within days of filing charges against Amazon for the company’s “treatment of third-party sellers,” the latest step in a “two-year probe into Amazon’s alleged mistreatment...more
On June 3, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted executives from Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation and Claxton Poultry Farms—two of the country’s largest chicken producers. The criminal action was filed in the District of...more
Adverse economic or social conditions have not historically tended to affect the general application and enforcement of antitrust rules. This remains the overall position in the circumstances of Covid-19, with many antitrust...more
Korean national Eun Soo Kim, a former key accounts manager for an automotive parts company, pled guilty on March 2 in the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to conspiring to rig bids and allocate market...more
As organizations are working to respond to the 2019 novel coronavirus (known as “COVID-19”), the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued a reminder that emergency efforts do not negate the requirement to adhere to the...more
In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it intends to hold accountable anyone who commits antitrust violations—by fixing prices, rigging bids, or allocating customers—in connection...more
On March 3, 2020, the American Bar Association (ABA) hosted a Q&A with two members of the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF)—Mark Grundvig, the Assistant Chief of the DOJ Antitrust Division’s Criminal II section, and...more
Over the last several weeks, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (the Division) obtained two recent trial victories, providing much-needed wins after the October 2018 acquittal of three foreign-exchange...more
An effective antitrust compliance program is more valuable than ever, now that the Department of Justice has confirmed that such a program will influence government charging and sentencing decisions. On July 11, 2019,...more
Japanese companies involved in U.S. public procurement should be aware: The Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division (Division) has publicly announced that it is prioritizing investigations of criminal antitrust...more
The Antitrust Division (Division) has recently prioritized the investigation and prosecution of criminal antitrust violations involving public procurement. ...more