Antitrust Lawyer Blog

On June 24, 2008, John Cockerham, a U.S. Army office, and his wife, Melissa Cockerham, of San Antonio pled guilty to charges of conspiracies to commit bribery and money laundering. Mr. Cockerham pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and one count of money laundering. Mrs. Cockerham pled guilty to one count…

On June 20, 2008, the U.S. District Court in Charleston, WV, issued an opinion and order to allow the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) to proceed with a lawsuit against the Daily Gazette Company (“Daily”) and MediaNews Group Inc. (MediaNews). In May 2007, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against Daily and MediaNews challenging the combined…

On June 20, 2008, Charles N. Kriss, a former New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services engineer, pled guilty to conspire to commit bribery in connection with a repair project to reconstruct Pier 86 where the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum is located. Mr. Kriss agreed to serve a sentence and pay a…

On June 18, 2008, Howe Electric Inc., a California-based electrical contractor, pled guilty and agreed to pay a fine of $3.3 million for rigging bids on Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC”) E-Rate Program (“E-Rate”) projects in two Fresno, CA schools. The company will pay a total of $300,000 in criminal fines and $3 million in restitution.…

On June 17, 2003, Home City Ice Company pled guilty to conspiracy in allocating packaged-ice customers and territories among its co-conspirators. The DOJ alleged that Home City along with its co-conspirators suppressed competition by allocating customers and territories in the Detroit Metropolitan area and southeastern Michigan amongst themselves. This conspiracy took place between January 2001…

On June 13, 2008, Frank Granizo, a former president of a licensed freight forwarding company based in Florida, pled guilty to wire fraud related to paying kickbacks to an unnamed executive at an unnamed manufacturing company. Mr. Granizo also agreed to help the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) in its ongoing investigation. The fraud scheme took…

On June 12, 2008, James P. Robinson of Atlanta, GA was charged with two counts of income tax evasion and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a kickback scheme against Home Depot. After appearing in court, the presiding judge granted Mr. Robinson a $10,000 bond. Allegedly, Mr. Robinson took kickbacks from foreign…

On June 10, 2008 the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) along with the State of Vermont entered into a settlement agreement that would allay their concerns that Verizon Communication Corp.’s (“Verizon”) acquisition of Rural Cellular Corp. (“RCC”) for $2.7 billion as proposed is anticompetitive. To resolve antitrust concerns, the DOJ required Verzion to divest assets in…

On June 10, 2005, Levonda J. Selph, a retired colonel in the U.S. Army, pled guilty to charges of conspiracy and bribery for her role in influencing Department of Defense (“DOD”) contracts at Camp Victory, Iraq in 2004 and 2005. In addition to pleading guilty, Lieutenant Colonel Selph agreed to serve a term of imprisonment…