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On November 2, 2021, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the planned $2.175 billion merger between powerhouse publishing companies Penguin Random House, LLC and Simon & Schuster, Inc.
V&E Antitrust Update
As a strong signal that it intends to increase its focus on illicit crypto transactions, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced the creation of an enforcement team, the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (“NCET”), on October 6, 2021.
On September 10, the newly-formed White House Competition Council (the “Council” or “Competition Council”) held its inaugural meeting, bringing together eight cabinet members and the leaders of seven independent agencies, to discuss the actions they are taking “to help lower prices for American families by boosting competition” in the U.S. economy, and to “plan the group’s priorities over the coming months.”
Larry Dean Harmon, the founder and operator of Helix, a darknet-based cryptocurrency “mixer” or “tumbler,” recently admitted that Helix partnered with darknet marketplaces to provide bitcoin money laundering services for darknet market customers.
Consider what would happen if government agents executed a search warrant at your business and collected hundreds of emails between employees and outside counsel.
On July 26, 2021, Aon PLC (“Aon”) and Willis Towers Watson PLC (“WTW”) announced the termination of a $30 billion proposed merger, citing an “impasse” with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”).
On July 20, 2021, President Biden nominated Jonathan Kanter, founder of the Kanter Law Group, to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice (“DOJ”).
The peril of FCPA punishments often is perceived as arising exclusively from government agencies like the DOJ and SEC, and other emerging enforcement agencies both domestic and international.
Published in Anti-Corruption Report, July 21, 2021
The Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) Procurement Collusion Strike Force (“PCSF”) chalked up several more prosecutions soon after we reported its first-ever international resolution — a guilty plea from Belgium-based G4S Secure Solutions NV (“G4S”) on June 25, 2021.
A grand jury in Pennsylvania recently indicted the former Dean of Temple University’s business school, Dr. Moshe Porat, for wire fraud, alleging that he submitted false data to U.S. News & World Report in an effort to increase the ranking of Temple’s Fox Business School.
On May 28, 2021, President Biden submitted his Budget for Fiscal Year 2022 to Congress, including $35.3 billion for the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), which was an overall increase of almost $4 billion from the previous administration’s DOJ request for Fiscal Year 2021.
In his April 28, 2021 address, President Biden asked Congress to provide $80 billion of extra funding for the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) over the next decade.