Assistant Attorney General Baer Delivers Joint Statement on Cartel Prosecution | Practical Law

Assistant Attorney General Baer Delivers Joint Statement on Cartel Prosecution | Practical Law

Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer and Ronald T. Hoska, Assistant Director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division delivered a joint speech on cartel prosecution to the US Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition and Consumer Rights.

Assistant Attorney General Baer Delivers Joint Statement on Cartel Prosecution

Practical Law Legal Update 2-549-3449 (Approx. 3 pages)

Assistant Attorney General Baer Delivers Joint Statement on Cartel Prosecution

by Practical Law Antitrust
Published on 18 Nov 2013 • USA (National/Federal)
Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer and Ronald T. Hoska, Assistant Director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division delivered a joint speech on cartel prosecution to the US Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition and Consumer Rights.
On November 14, 2013, Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer and Ronald T. Hoska, Assistant Director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division delivered a joint speech on cartel prosecution to the US Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition and Consumer Rights. The statement highlighted the DOJ and FBI partnership to discover and punish domestic and international cartel activity, including price fixing and bid rigging in the following industries:
  • Consumer goods, including
    • computers;
    • televisions; and
    • automobiles.
  • Shipping.
  • Hospital services.
  • Financial services.
In their remarks, Baer and Hoska explained the many benefits of cartel prosecution, including:
  • Eliminating harmful conduct.
  • Putting other wrongdoers on notice and dissuading them from continuing illegal conduct.
  • Deterring potential cartel activity by issuing severe consequences for cartel crime.
Baer noted that as a result of the DOJ's prosecution efforts in the 2013 fiscal year the DOJ:
  • Filed 50 cases.
  • Charged 21 corporations and 34 individuals.
  • Obtained $1.02 billion in criminal fines.
  • Obtained 28 prison terms from courts with an average sentence of just over two years.
Baer also stated that over the past ten fiscal years, the DOJ has collected an average of $675 million in criminal fines per year.
Fines do not go into the DOJ coffers. Instead, they are contributed to the Crime Victims Fund, helping crime victims throughout the US.
Baer and Hoska attributed the cartel enforcement success to, among other things:
  • The DOJ's Corporate Leniency Program, which grants amnesty from criminal prosecution of antitrust offenses to companies and individuals that report illegal activity and cooperate with the government's investigation.
  • The FBI's internal investigation efforts.
  • Customer complaints.
  • Submissions to the DOJ's Citizen Complaint Center.
In addition to the DOJ's corporate leniency program and its partnership with the FBI, Baer also pointed to the DOJ's close interactions with foreign competition authorities as a means by which the DOJ has strengthened its cartel enforcement efforts.
For more information on DOJ cartel enforcement activity, see the following resources from Practical Law Antitrust: