Bob Connolly   [email protected]

The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division today issued the 2021 edition of its annual Spring Newsletter. The newsletter highlights the division’s recent activities and successes on civil and criminal enforcement, diversity initiatives, international cooperation, and competition advocacy.  The newsletter highlights the division’s accomplishments and features profiles of division staff. It can be found at https://www.justice.gov/atr/division-operations/division-update-spring-2021.

With respect to Criminal Enforcement, the newsletter contains the following bullets:

• Generic Drugs Investigation Targets Anticompetitive Schemes
• PCSF Expansion and Early Success
• Investigation Into Procurement Irregularities at the Department of Energy Strategic Petroleum Reserve Results in Guilty Plea and Indictment 
• North Carolin Drainage Investigation Leads to Grand Jury Indictment for Bid Rigging and Fraud. 

ADDITIONAL NOTE From ABA Antitrust Section Spring Meeting

At the ABA Antitrust Spring Meeting today, Marvin Price, Director of Criminal Enforcement, Antitrust Division, USDOJ emphasized that labor market cases (wage fixing and allocation agreements) continue to be  high priority for the Division.  Mr. Price noted that these collusive employer agreements cause real harm to employers who are directly affected in the wages they earn or the opportunities open to them.  I couldn’t agree more!  See, Cartel Capers, April 18, 2018,  Employee No-Poach Agreement Compliance Message:  Knock it Off!  Now!!; Cartel Capers, December 17, 2020 A Look Back at the Road to the Antitrust Division’s First Criminal Wage-Fixing Case.

Thanks for reading.