Antitrust Leadership Changes With Biden Administration

As expected, on Tuesday, January 19, 2021, Makan Delrahim, the Assistant Attorney General (AAG) for the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), stepped down and Joseph Simons, the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), announced that he would step down from the Commission entirely on January 29, 2021, clearing the way for President Biden to appoint new leadership at both Federal antitrust agencies. In addition, Chairman Simons announced the departure […]

By | January 21st, 2021 ||

Protection For Criminal Antitrust Whistleblowers Signed Into Law

Largely overshadowed by the rise in COVID-19 deaths and the January 6, 2021, siege on the Capitol, the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act of 2019 (“the Act”) became law on December 23, 2020. See 15 U.S.C. § 7a-3. The Act, which Senator Chuck Grassley sponsored, prohibits employers from retaliating against individuals who report criminal antitrust violations to their employer or the federal government, or who participate in a federal governmental criminal antitrust investigation or proceeding.
Background
The Act’s co-sponsor, […]

By | January 16th, 2021 ||

Biden/Harris Expected To Double Down On Antitrust Enforcement: No “Trump Card” In The Deck

1. Conventional wisdom on antitrust enforcement is that Democrats are more interventionist than Republicans, which, at face value, suggests that there will be an uptick in enforcement under President Biden. But convention alone does not tell the whole story as a number of dynamics will influence antitrust policy during the Biden administration.

2. Antitrust policy under the Trump administration was anything but conventional, as Trump maintained a much more populist agenda than previous Republican administrations […]

By | January 10th, 2021 ||