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A.      The Broiler Chicken Civil Litigation/Criminal Indictment  On June 3, 2020, a grand jury in Colorado returned an indictment charging executives from Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation and Claxton Poultry Farms with fixing prices and rigging bids nationwide for broiler chickens  [I wonder how the grand jury met? Zoom?] The case was filed in the District of Colorado, where Pilgrim’s Pride is headquartered. The individual defendants are Pilgrim’s President and CEO, Jayson Penn and former…
US v. Lischewski, Case No. 3:18-cr-00203-EMC (N.D. Cal.) Christopher Lischewski, the former CEO of Bumble Bee who was convicted of price fixing after a trial last December, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 16, 2020.  The government has requested a guidelines sentence of eight to ten years in prison and a $1 million  fine.  The sentencing guidelines range is  97 to 121 months, but the Sherman Act has a ten year maximum.  Lischewski has…
As mentioned in a previous blog post (here), the ABA Antitrust Section is hosting the 68th Antitrust Virtual Spring Meeting with programs in different formats—podcast, live stream, etc.  Full information from the ABA about the program which runs from April 17-May 1, 2020 is available here.  This is a wonderful way the Section has put its hard work in preparing for the Spring Meeting to good use, and we are the fortunate recipients.…
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Starting April 17th the Antitrust Section’s Spring Meeting will take place via Podcasts, videocasts, live streams, and virtual receptions. No registration is required and it is free to the global competition, consumer protection, and data privacy communities regardless of whether a member of the Antitrust Law Section (but, of course, the Section would love to have non-members join and contribute to the global work of the Section). The full agenda, and directions on how to access…
Antitrust Division DAAG Richard Powers gave opening remarks at the 13th International Cartel Worksop that has just begun in San Francisco, California.  While there was no new ground in Mr. Powers remarks, the remarks are extensive and provides insight into the Division’s thinking regarding mature policies like Corporate Leniency as well as the Division’s newer policies such as the change in how the Division treats corporate compliance programs.  I recommend reading this statement which can…
I applaud the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property of Peru (Indecopi), (the Peruvian Competition Agency) for the publication of guidelines for an Antitrust Reward Program.  The Guidelines are the result of a continuous effort of the Peruvian Competition Agency to detect anticompetitive conducts and promote a free competition culture in the market. The guidelines promote an effective award (i.e. whistleblower) program.  They apply to: Price…
I am continuing my research and writing a paper for the Antitrust, Unfair Competition and Privacy Section of the California Bar Association.  Below is an excerpt on an issue I am trying to think through. ************************************* Section 1 of the Sherman Act states, “[e]very contract, combination . . . , or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce . . . is declared to be illegal.”[1]  The Supreme Court has said: “the problem…
I explained in an earlier blog post that a criminal antitrust case had reached the Supreme Court where defendants convicted of bid rigging at public real estate foreclosure auctions had challenged the constitutionality of the per se rule.  On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to review the criminal antitrust convictions, leaving in place the per se rule in criminal antitrust cases. As usual, the Supreme Court offered no explanation for denying cert in this case.…
My former DOJ colleague and whistleblowing writing partner, Kimberly Justice and I published an article in Competition, the official publication of the Antitrust, UCL and Privacy Section of the California Lawyers Association (CLA). CLA members can read the article online (here).  The article has information about handling False Claim Act cases and calls for the Antitrust Division to more actively encourage whistleblowers and stronger criminal antitrust whistleblower legislation. The article opens: “In the two decades…
As noted in earlier blog posts, three defendants convicted of bid rigging at public real estate foreclosure auctions have filed a cert petition in the Supreme Court challenging the per se rule in criminal cases.  The essence of the argument is that by instructing the jury that bid rigging/price fixing is a per se violation of the Sherman Act, the court unconstitutionally removes from the jury the question of whether the agreement was a restraint…