Overview
With a 10% budget increase for FY2021 and proposed legislation that would increase the Antitrust Division’s budget by $300 million, antitrust criminal enforcement is poised to accelerate.
Historically, cartel enforcement has increased following economic downturns and substantial federal stimulus packages. For example, after the 2008 financial crash and the 2009 Recovery Act, DOJ filed 60% more criminal cases than in prior years. We expect this trend to continue in the wake of the unprecedented government stimulus packages passed in 2020 and 2021. Beyond the increased resources, the Antitrust Division has stepped up their criminal enforcement program with the creation of the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF), the expansion of criminal prosecutions into labor markets, and new potential benefits for corporate entities with compliance programs addressing antitrust violations.
Justin addressed the following topics:
- Criminal antitrust violations, including case examples of price fixing, bid rigging, market/customer allocation, and recent investigations and prosecutions into labor markets;
- The expected industry focus of the Biden Administration
- The PCSF and “red flags of collusion”
- The Antitrust Division’s new Corporate Compliance Guidance which for the first time permits credit for compliance programs at the charging recommendation stage and could result in a non-prosecution or deferred prosecution agreement
- What companies can do to reduce their antitrust risk