cartel Archives - Corruption, Crime & Compliance

26 Aug, 2024

Antitrust Division Indicts Company, Executive and Employee for $100 Million Price-Fixing Conspiracy

DOJ’s Antitrust Division has been relatively quiet in prosecuting criminal cartel or bid-rigging cases. Since 2015, the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement has fallen from the billions in penalties each year to the lower hundreds of millions. Most of this may reflect the end of the large, Japanese auto supplier investigation. While the Leniency Program was a significant source of enforcement actions, it appears the Program...

Episode 323 — Carlos Villagran Discusses Rebuilding a Corporate Culture After a Crisis

Podcasts

2 Jun, 2024

Episode 323 — Carlos Villagran Discusses Rebuilding a Corporate Culture After a Crisis

Carlos Villagrán is the Director of Compliance at CMPC, a 100 years’ old Chilean-based holding company, one of the worldwide leading manufacturers of pulp, paper, packaging, personal care and other forest products. Carlos discusses the challenges he faced in joining CMPC after a significant crisis — CMPC’s prosecution for antitrust cartel violations in Chile and Peru. With more than 20,000 employees, CMPC has industrial operations...

German Auto Antitrust Cartel – A Record Enforcement Action Begins

Uncategorized

22 Aug, 2017

German Auto Antitrust Cartel – A Record Enforcement Action Begins

Just when you thought it could not get any worse, events remind us that things actually can get worse. Volkswagen suffered through a horrible scandal involving an elaborate scheme to circumvent emissions regulations. The scandal rocked VW and slowly stretched to other German auto manufacturers, including Audi, BMW, Daimler and Porsche. It turns out that this coordination on the emissions testing equipment was just the...

Getting Your Arms Around Antitrust Compliance (Part II of II)

General

3 Aug, 2016

Getting Your Arms Around Antitrust Compliance (Part II of II)

Anti-corruption compliance programs are the rage now – is that a young person’s expression? Antitrust has been a forgotten stepchild, partly because of DOJ’s unwillingness to credit companies that maintain effective compliance programs. That is not a legitimate excuse since every company should be addressing antitrust compliance as part of an overall compliance program. Antitrust compliance, however, has been around for many years, and usually fell...

General

2 Aug, 2016

The Often Ignored Importance of Antitrust Compliance (Part I of II)

If you ask any Chief Compliance Officer whether their compliance program includes antitrust laws, they will respond quickly and tell you – “Of course we do.” If you follow up you initial question and ask how do you ensure compliance you will hear a single response – “We conduct training.” When you scratch the surface on antitrust compliance at major companies, you will usually hear...

Antitrust Division Announces First Guilty Plea in Capacitor Cartel Investigation

General

15 Sep, 2015

Antitrust Division Announces First Guilty Plea in Capacitor Cartel Investigation

The Department of Justice’s far-reaching criminal investigation into the alleged electronic capacitor cartel has borne fruit – NEC Tokin Corporation agreed to plead guilty and pay a $13.8 million criminal fine for conspiring with competitors between 2002 and 2013. NEC Tokin’s plea is the first criminal plea in this investigation, and the electronics manufacturing company also agreed to cooperate in the Antitrust Division’s ongoing investigation....