Criminal Cartels

To challenge anticompetitive conduct by criminal cartels (such as price fixing and bid rigging) remains the highest enforcement priority of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division.  Criminal enforcement by DOJ can lead to jail sentences for culpable individuals and substantial monetary penalties for firms engaging in such conduct.  Sonnenschein attorneys have handled numerous antitrust criminal proceedings and, in the course of doing so, have represented both large and small corporations, as well as corporate executives.  For example, Sonnenschein attorneys have:

• Conducted internal antitrust investigations for numerous companies and represented the companies in separate grand jury investigations of alleged price-fixing or bid-rigging activities.
• Successfully defended a Fortune 500 company in a criminal jury trial involving allegations of bid-rigging and price-fixing. Obtained acquittals of not just the company, but also its subsidiary and all four of its executives.
• Following a multi-year investigation by the Department of Justice, won acquittal for a major company and its chief executive officer in a criminal jury trial involving allegations of price-fixing.
• Obtained reversal of sentences imposed on two antitrust defendants by the district court in a price-fixing prosecution.