Manatt Antitrust and Competition Partner Dylan Carson was quoted in Law.com’s Corporate Counsel on how government enforcers are probing communications between competitors to detect potential corporate antitrust crimes.
Recently, recorded evidence by the Department of Justice (DOJ) led to an owner of a fuel truck service being indicted for colluding with a competitor to monopolize territories via rig fuel bids. This case should serve as a reminder, Carson said, “Given the government’s deployment of aggressive tools like wiretaps and undercover agents, government contractors should assume that the DOJ and FBI are listening to communications with competitors.”
Effective and up-to-date federal employee training and policies are foundational to a culture of compliance, and federal contractors can improve antitrust compliance programs “by assessing their risks based on the competitiveness of their bidding process,” he added. If charged for improper collusion with competitors, a corporation may receive credit if their compliance program shows to be applied in good faith and is robustly designed, which should ensure foreign partners will respect U.S. competition laws.
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