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Criminal Antitrust Enforcement Under the Obama Administration

BY David Laing
August 28, 2010

Candidate Barack Obama criticized the Bush Administration for “what may be the weakest record of antitrust enforcement of any administration in the last half century.” Obama stated that he would direct his administration “to reinvigorate antitrust enforcement” and take “aggressive action to curb the growth of international cartels.” Candidate Obama also stated that, “Under my administration, the antitrust law will mean something.” With the Obama Administration in place a year and a half, it's a good time to evaluate the Obama Justice Department's enforcement of criminal antitrust laws and determine whether the DOJ has been as active in criminal enforcement as the candidate promised.

Comparing the Statistics

Judging by the numbers, the Obama DOJ has been as active, or at least as successful, in criminal antitrust enforcement as candidate Obama promised. Criminal antitrust fines in 2009 exceeded $1 billion, the second highest amount of annual antitrust criminal penalties in the Sherman Act's 110-year history. All of the material antitrust fines in 2009 resulted from settlements that DOJ negotiated, rather than from sentences imposed after trial. The majority of 2009 criminal fines were from DOJ investigations in two industries ' air transportation and liquid crystal display (LCD), including five fines exceeding $100 million each.

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