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
California Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Paula Blizzard recently announced that the California Attorney General’s Office (AGO) intends to “reinvigorat[e] criminal prosecutions” under California’s Cartwright Act, Cal. Bus....more
The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF) has struck again, this time with the help of a Title III wiretap. ...more
The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division ("DOJ") recently resolved a criminal case with Teva Pharmaceuticals and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals via deferred prosecution agreements ("DPAs"), which include a novel remedy for...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
On January 17, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice announced that it had obtained another in a recent string of guilty pleas as a result of investigations into government contracting by the Procurement...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
WHAT HAPPENED - - On back-to-back days this month, defendants charged and prosecuted by the US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (the DOJ) were acquitted on all Sherman Act charges in first-of-their-kind criminal...more
In a landmark case of first impression, the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division (Division) indicted and brought to trial a federal criminal prosecution alleging agreements between DaVita, Inc., its former CEO...more
Northern District of Illinois Grants Motion for Partial Reconsideration of Summary Judgment Decision Regarding Whether Former Walgreens CFO’s Statements Were Actionable; Securities Fraud Claims Against Chicken Producer for...more
The end of 2021 continued to be a busy time for antitrust enforcers in the U.S. and around the world. Perhaps most notably, in November the Senate confirmed Jonathan Kanter to lead the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust...more
On December 9, 2020, the Japan Fair Trade Commission ("JFTC") brought criminal accusations with regard to bid-rigging involving pharmaceutical products ordered by the Japan Community Healthcare Organization ("JCHO"). Three...more
DOJ’s Antitrust Division is increasing criminal antitrust enforcement. After two relatively slow years of criminal enforcement, the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program is steadily increasing....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
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
On February 4, 2020, a grand jury from the United States District Court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania indicted Ara Aprahamian for price fixing under the Sherman Act and false statements. ...more
Credit Suisse’s CEO Tidjane Thiam is out, to be succeeded next week by longtime company vet Thomas Gottstein. Thaim appeared to have ridden out the corporate spying scandal involving a former employee last year, and he had...more
On November 5, 2019, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the formation of a new Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF) to prosecute collusive bidding and procurement fraud in government contracting....more
This week I have been considering the guilty pleas of the former Unaoil Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Cyrus Ahsani, and former Chief Operations Officer (COO), Saman Ahsani, as was laid out in their Information. Most...more
Government contractors should be aware that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is taking new steps to scrutinize public procurement. The DOJ Antitrust Division’s creation of the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF) means...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
Companies involved in the government contracting industry should take note that the government is honing in on anticompetitive conduct affecting government procurements. The federal government has demonstrated an increased...more
We summarize below some of the most significant cartel enforcement developments from U.S. and other antitrust enforcers, including policy shifts, investigations, case filings, and court rulings. This report summarizes...more
Q4 Update: Overview of Cartel Investigations - Although 2018 saw guilty pleas and new indictments in several ongoing Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations, the year finished by continuing a downward trend in antitrust...more
The Background: Earlier in 2018, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission warned that several domestic companies would face criminal cartel prosecutions in 2018. The Situation: The ACCC has begun to follow...more