Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: DAAGs discuss Antitrust Division “rebuilding” to support enforcement efforts at ABA Spring Meeting panel, (Mar 26, 2014)
Organizations Mentioned:AU Optronics Corp. | American Airlines, Inc. | Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, LLP | Comcast Corp. | Federal Communications Commission | Time Warner Cable, Inc. | US Airways Group, Inc.
By Jeffrey May, J.D.
There were some new faces on the panel this year at the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law’s annual update from the Department of Justice Antitrust Division. In addition to changes in leadership, over the last year the Antitrust Division has seen an increase in hiring that will support its continued enforcement activities.
David I. Gelfand and Brent Snyder are the newest deputy assistant attorneys general (DAAGs) at the Antitrust Division. Gelfand is the DAAG in charge of litigation, and Snyder is in charge of criminal enforcement. They were joined on today’s panel by returning DAAG panelists Renata B. Hesse, who oversees criminal and civil operations; Leslie Overton, who is in charge of civil enforcement; and Aviv Nevo, who is responsible for economic analysis.
Hesse shared some other recent organizational changes at the Antitrust Division with attendees. In the Field Offices, Marc Siegel is the new chief in San Francisco, Jeffrey Martino has taken the helm of the New York office, and Frank Vondrak is the chief of the Chicago office. Vondrak is replacing Marvin Price, who is now criminal enforcement director at the Antitrust Division. In Washington, Kristen Limarzi has been named the chief of the Appellate Section. Mary Strimel also has been named a section chief.
In addition, the Antitrust Division has hired a number of new attorneys and economists. Hesse noted that the rebuilding is occurring on civil and criminal sides. Both Overton and Snyder mentioned budgetary relief that has enabled them to hire the new lawyers.
Overton said that she has finished a first round of hiring and has extended offers to about a dozen lawyers. She also noted that there were plans to hire more junior lawyers to assist with civil enforcement. Staffing levels are still not back to where they were before the closure of a number of Field Offices, however.
As for economists, Nevo said that it was an incredible recruiting year. Five PhD economists were recently hired by at the Antitrust Division, according to Nevo.
Despite the organizational changes, the DAAGS suggested that there would be continuity at the Antitrust Division. The newest DAAGs said that they had no plans to make significant changes.
Litigation efforts. Gelfand, a former Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP partner, said that when he joined the Antitrust Division last year, he was impressed by agency’s tremendous capacity to investigate and litigate cases. He noted that five cases were going on at the same time as the Antitrust Division’s challenge to Bazaarvoice’s consummated acquisition of PowerReviews.
On the topic of the US Airways/American Airlines merger, Gelfand described the pending consent decree resolving the government’s antitrust concerns as a “fantastic settlement” that was “earned through difficult litigation.” He pointed out that the settlement calls for a very significant divestiture of assets that was the largest ever in the airline industry.
Criminal enforcement. “The Antitrust Division has been trying more criminal cases and we’re winning most of them,” said Snyder, who took over criminal enforcement at the Antitrust Division in November. He discussed key criminal trials over the past year. The government obtained convictions in two out of the three.
In a case against a former project manager for a contractor at designated Superfund sites in New Jersey, Gordon McDonald was convicted in September 2013 on 10 counts of a 12-count indictment and was sentenced recently to 14 years in prison. In a second case, two real estate investors—Andrew B. Katakis and Donald M. Parker—were found guilty of conspiring to rig bids at public real estate foreclosure auctions, but an auctioneer—W. Theodore Longley—who was charged with participating in the conspiracy was acquitted by the same jury in Sacramento. The jury deadlocked on a count of mail fraud against the investors, as well. Lastly, an AU Optronics Corporation executive, Richard Bai, was acquitted by a jury of helping to implement a conspiracy to fix the prices of thin-film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels last October.
Snyder pointed out that two of the cases involved purely domestic cartel activity. He reminded attendees that the Antitrust Division continues to actively pursue domestic cartel conduct and that there is a variety of other domestic investigations currently ongoing, such as the muni bonds investigation.
Comcast-TWC merger. Looking ahead, Hesse said that the Antitrust Division was closely coordinating with Federal Communications Commission on the review of the combination of Comcast and Time Warner Cable. She said to expect the same high level of coordination that has taken place in past deals involving the communications industry.
Details of these and other developments are included in the Antitrust Division’s just-released annual newsletter.
Companies: American Airlines, Inc.; US Airways Group, Inc.; AU Optronics Corp.; Comcast Corp.; Time Warner Cable, Inc.
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