Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Baer highlights role, purpose of antitrust enforcement for consumers, (Oct 26, 2015)

By Linda O’Brien, J.D., LL.M.

When antitrust laws are enforced, competition flourishes, said Bill Baer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, in an address on October 23 before the National Asian American Coalition (NAAC) and National Diversity Coalition in San Francisco, California.

Baer began his remarks by stating that the mission of the Antitrust Division involves ensuring economic opportunity for all consumers. The country’s antitrust laws seek to promote fairness in the marketplaces, safeguard the economic freedom of its citizens, and strengthen the economy through vigorous competition. The country’s first antitrust law—the Sherman Act—was passed 125 years ago and seeks to protect American consumers and businesses from the harm to competition that results when too much economic power is held by only a few corporations and individuals, Baer commented.

As examples of cases that showcase the Antitrust Division’s strong record of criminal antitrust enforcement, Baer noted that earlier this year the Justice Department and U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the criminal guilty pleas of five of the world’s largest and most influential financial institutions for manipulating the massive foreign currency exchange market. As part of their guilty pleas, these institutions were required to pay almost $3 billion in criminal fines, including the largest antitrust fines ever obtained in the Justice Department’s 145-year history. A few years ago, the Division uncovered international conspiracies to fix the prices for all kinds of automobile parts, including seatbelts, airbags and antilock brake systems. In Northern California, the Justice Department’s San Francisco office has spent the last several years prosecuting individuals who rigged the bids on foreclosed homes being sold at public auctions.

The Antitrust Division also is concerned about mergers between competitors that put the American public at risk of higher prices and lower quality products, Baer stated. As an example, Baer cited when AT&T wanted to buy its rival, T-Mobile several years ago. AT&T claimed that by eliminating T-Mobile as a competitor, the consumer would be better off. The job at the Antitrust Division, according to Baer, was to “kick the tires on those claims and make sure they are accurate.” In that case, the facts showed that the elimination of T-Mobile as a competitor risked having consumers pay higher prices and receiving worse contract terms for mobile service. As a result of the Division’s challenge to the deal, AT&T ended up abandoning it.

According to Baer, former Attorney General Holder, in one of his final speeches as the lawyer for the American people, summed up the role and purpose of antitrust enforcement. Holder said: “In the appropriate enforcement of the antitrust laws we make real the promise of our democracy and our founding documents. Vigorous competition in all spheres is what makes this nation exceptional. It makes progress more likely and promotes the general welfare.” Baer commended the men and women of the Antitrust Division who “remain true to this mission” and “make the economy work for all of us.”

Baer concluded by acknowledging the work that the NAAC and the National Diversity Coalition do on a daily basis to help the most vulnerable citizens and communities and noted that “[t]ogether we can help to promote marketplaces where companies compete on price and quality for the hard earned dollars of American consumers.”

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