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
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently issued a landmark decision that temporarily altered the standard of review for antitrust bid-rigging prosecutions against manufacturers and distributors in...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
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 three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit overturned an executive’s bid-rigging antitrust conviction, holding that the district court erred in applying the per se standard to the executive’s...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
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
In 2022, antitrust authorities around the world were pursuing more investigations, bringing new types of cases, and making policy changes to spark even more enforcement actions. In the United States, the Department of...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF, or Strike Force) celebrates its third anniversary this month. Formed in November 2019 as an interagency partnership consisting of DOJ’s antitrust...more
Continuing its prolific run of indictments, guilty pleas, and convictions, on July 13, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF or Strike Force) secured a guilty plea from a Texas...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
Procurement Collusion Strike Force - The Procurement Collusion Strike Force, formed by the Department of Justice in 2019, is ramping up enforcement pressures against government contractors. The Strike Force brings together...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
In remarks delivered on January 18, 2022, and January 24, 2022, Jonathan Kanter, the Assistant Attorney General (AAG) for the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division, laid out the areas where he perceives...more
On 17 February, the Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division (Antitrust Division) announced that it is launching a joint initiative with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to “deter and prosecute those who would...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced an initiative on Feb. 17, 2022, to investigate and prosecute individuals and businesses that engage in collusive schemes relating to supply chain disruptions. Seeking to protect...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
As previously reported, a proposed class action proceeding against over 50 generic drug manufacturers was commenced in 2020. The proposed class action alleges that the defendants conspired to “allocate the market, fix prices...more
More than halfway through the year, 2021 has shaped up to be another busy time for antitrust enforcers. In July, the Biden administration confirmed that antitrust remains a top priority by issuing a sweeping Executive Order,...more
On June 25, 2021, the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (the “Division”) announced the first criminal antitrust prosecution and “international resolution obtained by the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF).”...more
On June 7, 2021, as part of the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) continuing commitment to prosecuting cases where the government is a victim, a government contractor pleaded guilty to one count of bid-rigging and one count of...more