Government procurement fraud is pervasive. The vast majority of government procurement fraud goes undetected, and federal agencies rely heavily on whistleblowers to help them determine when scrutiny is warranted. Blowing the...more
2024 saw a continued trend of heightened dawn raid activity by antitrust authorities across the globe. Of the 31 jurisdictions surveyed, 24 (77%) confirmed that the regulator had carried out dawn raids during the course of...more
On Nov. 12, the U.S. Supreme Court declined certiorari for the U.S. v. Brewbaker decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, leaving undisturbed the ruling that heightens the burden on antitrust prosecutors...more
The firm is pleased to distribute the Wilson Sonsini Global Cartel Law Quarterly Q4 2024 / Q1 2025, which provides a summary of key cartel enforcement trends across the U.S., Europe, and beyond. A “cartel” under competition...more
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
On 5 January 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced the trial of an artificial intelligence (AI) tool designed to detect collusion in public procurement by scanning and analysing bidding data at scale....more
District of Columbia AG Brian Schwalb has settled with Intralot, Inc. and Veterans Services Corporation (VSC) to resolve an investigation into allegations that the companies deceived city officials in violation of the...more
The re-election of former President Donald J. Trump is poised to significantly alter the landscape of antitrust enforcement, particularly within the energy and chemical industries. While the incoming administration has yet to...more
The Department of Justice recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of its Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF), and all signs point to the PCSF continuing to be a Division priority into 2025 and beyond....more
Bem-vindo ao Juntos, nosso boletim trimestral que explora os principais desenvolvimentos na área concorrencial e antitruste nas Américas, com especial atenção a novidades que possam impactar toda a região. Nesta edição,...more
Bienvenidos a Juntos, nuestro boletín que explora desarrollos en el mundo del derecho antimonopolio y de competencia en América Latina. En esta edición, analizamos algunos de los principales titulares del 2024....more
CNDC prioritizes agency independence, cartel enforcement. In public remarks at an international conference in November, the president of Argentina’s National Commission for the Defense of Competition (CNDC) laid out the...more
There are numerous ways of committing procurement fraud. When investigating all options need to be considered and collection of intelligence is crucial. StoneTurn Managing Director Phathu Makhadi highlights the most common...more
Starting in October 2022, companies that use software to assist in setting prices for their products have faced an avalanche of litigation claiming that the common use by competitors of the same pricing software inflates...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruling that limits the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) ability to bring criminal charges for antitrust violations to stand. On November 12,...more
The guidance stresses heightened focus on emerging antitrust risks, enhanced support and incentives, and proactive monitoring. On November 12, 2024, the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice (the Antitrust...more
On September 30, 2024, the DOJ announced that Siemens Energy, Inc., pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge and agreed to pay a $104 million fine for rigging a bid by using rivals’ bidding information wrongfully obtained...more
Despite the summer doldrums, cartel enforcers around the world had several notable enforcement actions and, perhaps more importantly, signaled a busy fall and winter. In the United States, the Department of Justice’s...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
At the mid-year point, 2024 is shaping up to be an eventful year in cartel enforcement. In the United States, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Antitrust Division (Division) enjoyed two significant victories and finally...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
As anticipated, cartel enforcement is ramping up at the start of 2024 and investigations relating to artificial intelligence (AI) are taking center stage. Leadership of both the broader Department of Justice (DOJ) and the...more
A well-known idiom - widely credited to Ben Franklin in the 1700s - is that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Yet, few companies actively train their personnel to recognize the risk of a trade secret...more
The year 2023 ended with a bang in the cartel space, with a federal court of appeals upending what was long believed to be the scope of conduct that should be considered per se under the Sherman Act. The new year, 2024,...more