“The Biden Administration is sending a shot over the bow to monopolists, making it clear that if laws are on the books, they are going to be enforced. Big Tech should look at the fundamentals of this case – carving up the market to limit competition – and rethink how they conduct business,” said Sacha Haworth, Executive Director of the Tech Oversight Project. “Yesterday marks the first criminal monopoly plea in two generations and speaks to the heart of the Biden competition agenda that has garnered support from progressives and populists alike. They are just getting started, and with scores of important cases between the DOJ and the FTC on the docket, companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon should prepare themselves for a fight.”
ICYMI: Bloomberg: DOJ Gets Conviction in First Criminal Monopoly Case in Decades
Case reflects Biden administration’s broad antitrust agenda
By Leah Nylen on 10/31/22
The Justice Department on Monday won its first criminal monopolization case in more than 40 years when a construction company executive pleaded guilty to monopolizing the market for highway crack-sealing services in Montana and Wyoming.
A Montana federal judge accepted the plea of Nathan Zito, president of Z&Z Asphalt Inc., a paving and asphalt company in Billings, Montana, for attempted monopoly by allegedly offering a competitor a “strategic partnership” to split-up regional markets for highway repairs.
Zito offered to pay a rival company $100,000 if it agreed to stop bidding on projects in Montana and Wyoming, according to the Justice Department. In return, Zito would stop competing for projects in South Dakota and Nebraska. Zito faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine. His sentencing is scheduled for February.
Zito’s lawyer didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Justice Department’s antitrust division pointed to the guilty plea as part of the Biden administration’s stepped-up agenda to promote competition across the economy.
“Congress criminalized monopolization and attempted monopolization to combat criminal conduct that subverts competition,” Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Jonathan Kanter said in a statement. “The Justice Department will continue to prosecute blatant and illegitimate monopoly behavior.”
In a series of speeches earlier this year, Kanter said the Justice Department would seek to bring back criminal monopolization charges in appropriate cases. For decades, the agency has largely pursued monopolization cases as civil violations, such as its pending antitrust suit against Google parent company Alphabet Inc.
The previous criminal monopolization case was in 1981 and centered on pricing fixing by Cuisinart.