Articles Posted in DOJ Antitrust Highlights

On April 2, 2009, Krzysztof Koczon, a resident of Connecticut, pled guilty for his role in a conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”).Mr. Koczon provided his co-conspirators with false documentation stating that he performed certain construction services and received more than $2.3 million in checks from his co-conspirators. The construction services provided were…

On March 31, 2009, Sakae Someya, an executive at Hitachi Displays, Ltd. (“Hitachi”) was charged for participating in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition in the Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display (“TFT-LCD”) industry by fixing prices of TFT-LCD panels sold to Dell, Inc (“Dell”) for its use in notebook and desktop computers.TFT-LCD panels are…

On March 25, 2009, Mariusz Debowski, a resident of Connecticut who was involved in the operations of three businesses in Brooklyn, NY, pled guilty to for his role in a conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). Mr. Debowski provided his co-conspirators with false documentation stating that he performed certain construction services and received…

On March 19, 2009, Carolyn Blake, sister of U.S. Army officer John Cockerham, pled guilty for her participation in a money-laundering scheme and accepting more than $3 million in bribes on behalf of her brother.Ms. Blake was to keep 10 percent of the money she collected for her brother. On June 24, 2008, John Cockerham,…

On March 10, 2009, Hitachi Displays, Ltd (“Hitachi”), a subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd (a Japanese electronics manufacturer), pled guilty and agreed to pay a fine of $31 million for its role in a conspiracy to fix the prices of Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display panels (“TFT-LCD”) sold to Dell Inc. (“Dell”).TFT-LCD panels are used in…

On February 26, 2009, Christopher Tranchina, an employee of a company temporarily responsible for electrical utilities at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) designated Superfund site, Federal Creosote in Manville, NJ, pled guilty to defrauding the EPA at that site.According to the indictment, Mr. Tranchina and co-conspirators defrauded the EPA by inflating Federal Creosote invoices…

On February 20, 2009, JBS and National Beef announced the abandonment of the JBS/National Beef transaction. The Antitrust Division filed an antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Chicago to block the proposed acquisition, alleging that the deal would result in lower prices paid to cattle suppliers and higher beef prices for consumers. At…

On January 30, 2009, Peter Baci, a former executive at a freight service company, was sentenced to 48 months in jail and agreed to pay a criminal fine of $20,000. This sentence marks the longest jail sentence ever imposed for a single antitrust charge.On October 20, 2008, Mr. Baci pled guilty to his role in…

During the week of January 26, 2009, IBM Inc. (“IBM”) and Microsoft Corporation Inc. (“Microsoft”) were separately accused of “tying” or “bundling” their products, in effect abusing their market dominant position, a violation of Article 82 of the European Community Treaty.“Tying” or “bundling” products occurs when the sale of one product is conditional on the…

On January 22, 2009, three air cargo airlines, LAN Cargo S.A. (“LAN”), a Chilean company, Aerolinhas Brasileiras S.A. (“ABSA”), a Brazilian company, and EL AL Israel Airlines Ltd. (“EL AL”), an Israeli company, each pled guilty for their role in a worldwide conspiracy to fix prices in the air cargo industry and agreed to pay…