Articles Posted in DOJ Antitrust Highlights

On July 6, 2009, Robert P. Griffiths, a former executive at Bennett Environmental Inc (“BEI”), a Canadian company that provides soil treatment, pled guilty to charges for paying kickbacks and committing fraud at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Superfund-site Federal Creosote in New Jersey. Mr. Griffiths also pled guilty to money laundering charges and…

On July 6, a number of news sources reported that the DOJ has begun looking into whether large U.S. telecommunications companies such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. are abusing their market power they have amassed in recent years. The review is an indication of the Obama administration’s aggressive stance on antitrust enforcement. Christine…

On July 1, 2009, First Lieutenant Robert Moore (Ret.), plead guilty to conspiracy and bribery charges. Mr. Moore accepted money from contracts in exchange for Department of Defense (“DOD”) contracts at the Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan (“Bagram”). He also falsified the number of bunkers and barriers delivered to Bagram, causing the DOD to pay for bunkers…

On June 30, 2009, Franch A. March, a chief executive officer of a former Virginia marine products company, pled guilty for his role in conspiracy to rig bids and allocate customers with respect to foam-filled fenders and buoys bought by the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Card, and other private companies. Mr. March has also agreed…

On June 25, 2009, Tijani Ahmed Saani, a contracting officer at the Department of Defense, plead guilty to filing false tax returns from 2003 to 2007. While working on detail at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, he failed to properly file tax returns by not reporting overseas bank accounts in the United States and Jersey Channel Islands.…

On June 25, 2009, Frederick Landgraber, a co-owner of a New Jersey landscaping company, plead guilty to his role in a fraud conspiracy at the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”)-Superfund site, Federal Creosote. Mr. Landgraber was involved in the conspiracy from March 2002 to June 2005. Mr. Landgraber paid $30,000 to an employee prime contractor at…

On June 19, 2009, Christopher P. West, a U.S. Army Major, and Patrick W. Boyd, a U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant pled guilty to various bribery, fraud, and conspiracy charges related to Department of Defense contracts in Afghanistan. Charles Patton, a U.S. Army Sergeant pled guilty for receiving stolen property connected to the bribery conspiracy.…

On June 16, 2009, Harvey N. Nusbaum and Jeff W. Stollof, two Baltimore, MD businessmen, were indicted for conspiring to rig bids in tax lien auctions in Maryland. If a property owner in Maryland fails to pay his/her property taxes, the State government imposes a lien. If the taxes are still unpaid, the tax liens…

On June 11, 2009, Anthony M. Tesvich, a former Home Depot employee, was sentenced to serve six years in federal prison for charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and filing false tax returns. According to the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), the conspiracy took place from October 2002 to October 2007. Mr. Tesvich took kickbacks…

From June 3-5, 2009, Christine A. Varney, the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) Antitrust Division, will participate in the eighth annual International Competition Network (“ICN”) conference in Zurich, Switzerland. She will join senior government antitrust officials and other antitrust experts from multinational organizations and the private sector. The conference…