Antitrust Lawyer Blog

On June 23, 2009, John C. Malone, the chairman of the board of Liberty Media Corporation and the chief executive officer of Discovery Holding Co. (“Discovery”), agreed to pay a penalty of $1.4 million for violating premerger reporting and waiting requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) Act of 1976 when acquiring Discovery. Mr. Malone violated premerger…

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…

On June 4, 2009, Alta Bates Medical Group, Inc. (“Alta Bates”), a 600-physician independent practice association serving the Berkeley and Oakland, California, area, agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated the antitrust laws by fixing prices charged to health care insurers. The proposed consent order agreed to by the doctor group and…

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…

On June 2, Bradley J. Hansen, the former superintendent of the Montcalm Area Intermediate School District in Grand Rapids, MI, was indicted by a grand jury for conspiring to commit bribery and deprive the school district and the citizens of Michigan of his honest services in relation to the Federal Communication Commission’s (“FCC”) E-Rate Program.…

On May 27, 2009, Diana Bakir Demilta, president of Global-Link Distribution, LLC, a defense contracting company, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and admitted to bribery in connection with contracts for operations in the International Zone, Baghdad, Iraq. Between September 2004 and March 2005, Ms. Demilta submitted multiple sham bids for a contract…

On May 27, the Federal Trade Commission filed an administrative complaint o block CSL Limited’s proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of Talecris Biotherapeutics Holdings Corporation. The administrative complaint alleges that the deal would be illegal and would substantially reduce competition in the U.S. markets for four plasma-derivative protein therapies – Immune globulin (Ig), Albumin, Rho-D, and…

On May 21, 2009, Todd M. Mosiman, a U.S. Navy subcontractor from Virginia, pled guilty for conspiring to defraud the U.S. Navy. Mr. Mosiman conspired with a co-conspirator to steer contracts for fabricated metals used for the repair and maintenance of elevator equipment in on U.S. Navy aircraft and vessels. These contracts were worth over…