Sky Blog
As we write this memorandum, a new administration is forming in Washington, with new leadership teams being nominated at DOJ, SEC, CFTC and other regulatory and law-enforcement agencies — thus prompting the question of what these changes may portend for …
President-elect Biden has yet to name the officials who will oversee antitrust enforcement in his administration. Therefore, the focus of the administration’s substantive agenda remains to be seen. However, the staffs of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of …
My article, Enforcement Against the Biggest Banks, takes a census of the hundreds of enforcement actions by American regulators against the world’s largest banks between the passage of Dodd-Frank in July 2010 and December 31, 2016, near the end …
On September 21, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) pertaining to pre-merger notification rules under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act that was supported by the Department of Justice. The FTC proposes changing the definition of “person” …
On September 3, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it is publishing a Merger Remedies Manual. Significantly, the new manual recognizes that “in some cases a private equity purchaser may be [a] preferred” …
On September 3, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice released its updated Merger Remedies Manual (the “Manual”). The Manual emphasizes the DOJ’s strong preference for “structural” remedies (i.e., divestitures) over “behavioral” or “conduct” remedies to address potential competitive harms that …
Recent enforcement actions by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) demonstrate the agencies’ continued close scrutiny of merging parties’ compliance with divestiture orders. Last month, the FTC required Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (ACT), a …
Following their January publication of Draft Vertical Merger Guidelines (draft guidelines) for public comment, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) (collectively, the agencies) issued final Vertical Merger Guidelines (Guidelines) on June 30, 2020.1 This marks …
The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant financial distress for many businesses and there have been a number of bankruptcy filings recently,[1] with more likely on the horizon. As a result, there is likely to be an increase in acquisitions …
On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission released a final version of the agencies’ updated Vertical Merger Guidelines. The updated Guidelines are broadly consistent with the draft Guidelines the DOJ and FTC released in …
On June 22, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enhance cooperation between the two agencies. According to the agencies’ …
One of the most serious corruption cases ever investigated in Israel is “Case 3000,” also known as “The Submarines Scandal.” It concerned suspicions that senior Israeli officers and public servants received bribes for over a decade in order to “fix” …
The U.S. Constitution prohibits the Department of Justice, absent consent of the defendant, from bringing criminal charges against any person or entity without approval of a grand jury composed of American citizens. When the pandemic erupted in earnest in March …
Health care fraud continues to be a top enforcement priority for U.S. prosecutors, and nowhere is this more true than for the medical technology sector. From 2014-2019, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) brought enforcement actions against 67 medtech companies. …
For over two decades, the federal government has employed roughly the same approach to corporate crime. Prosecutors promise leniency in exchange for corporations’ commitment to improve the internal structures and systems that ensure their employees’ compliance with law. Over the …
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or the CARES Act, which was signed into law on March 27, 2020, provided for the establishment and expansion of a range of economic assistance programs designed to help U.S. businesses manage …
To assist legal and compliance officers of financial institutions, this memorandum summarizes key recent developments in criminal prosecutions and regulatory enforcement actions involving financial institutions during November and December 2019.
Among the significant matters and trends:
In a year of robust M&A activity, the U.S. antitrust agencies investigated and challenged transactions in many sectors of the economy. The Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice initiated court challenges to block four proposed transactions and …
As empirical evidence of labor-market concentration mounts, academics and policymakers advance proposals to challenge or reverse its effects on workers’ wages and labor-market options. Prominent among these is more aggressive review of the labor-market effects of mergers by the Department …
On October 8, 2019, the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ” or the “Government”) issued new guidance for federal prosecutors to follow when corporations claim they are unable to pay a criminal fine or monetary penalty. For …