Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: AAI recommends enhancements to plea agreements in criminal antitrust cases, (Dec 30, 2014)

By Edward L. Puzzo, J.D.

The American Antitrust Institute (AAI) is requesting that the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division make two specific enhancements to the plea agreements it enters into with corporate defendants in criminal antitrust cases.

In a December 29 letter to William J. Baer, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, the AAI requests that the Justice Department:

1. require corporate defendants in criminal antitrust cases to agree, as a condition of plea agreements, not to hire or re-hire their employees, or the employees of their co-conspirators, who served time in prison or were placed under house arrest or on probation, as a result of participating in the conspiracy; and

2. explicitly require these companies to agree not to pay the fines of convicted employees, or otherwise to reward or compensate them, directly or indirectly, for their conviction or for serving their sentence.

The AAI praised the Justice Department as "the gold standard for antitrust enforcement globally," but noted that "... despite its long and vigorous campaign against cartels, collusive behavior continues to occur far too often. The leniency and amnesty programs, increased fines, and increased frequency and severity of incarceration have all been extremely important improvements in enforcement policy, but there is room for further improvement." The suggested improvements would require no new legislation and would have no significant budgetary consequences, the AAI noted.

The American Antitrust Institute is an independent and non-profit education, research, and advocacy organization. Its mission is to increase the role of competition, assure that competition works in the interests of consumers, and challenge abuses of concentrated economic power in the American and world economy.

News: Antitrust