On Capitol Hill, antitrust bills advance as Khan stumbles

Antitrust enforcers have received mixed receptions on Capitol Hill in recent weeks.

Federal-state relations could use more structure, won’t get much

There are getting to be an awful lot of cooks clustered around the antitrust soup kettle. The question is what to do about it.

Current Issue: 794

Next Issue: Oct 18, 2022

The plan to shutter DOJ offices gets stranger

The curious saga of the Justice Department’s peculiar decision to save $8 million by shuttering some of its most effective crime-fighting offices gets stranger by the day.

Now Showing: Justice Department on YouTube

A series of anonymous YouTube videos making the rounds highlights tensions inspired by the Justice Department’s proposal to shut four regional criminal antitrust offices.

Popular FTC commissioner steps down

Bill Kovacic, a longtime Federal Trade Commission employee who served as chairman in 2008, spent the last day of his tenure at the FTC surrounded by boxes packed with his books and international...

Drug-shortage probes at DOJ and FTC

The exploding number of incidents of drug shortages— frequently leading to skyrocketing prices for life-saving medications—is drawing attention from the White House and US Senate.

Lundbeck

Could this case go to the Supreme Court?

Debt collectors gone wild

It’s not often that an FTC press release comes with a warning label.

Leibowitz pressing Congress for action on pay-for-delay

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz has offered his own cost-savings suggestion to the the deficit supercommittee that is trying to cut the budget: Restrict pay-for-delay deals.

Criticism mounting on Express Scripts merger

Congressional opposition continues to grow to the proposed $29.1 billion merger between pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts Inc. and Medco Health Solutions, which is being reviewed by the FTC.

CFPB UPDATE: Another famous ‘name’ joins the agency

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced another big hire recently, once again going for a well-known name. Hubert “Skip” Humphrey III will lead the agency’s new Office of Older Americans.

New York law

Federal Trade Commission staff has recommended that the New York State Assembly reject a bill that would allow physicians to collectively negotiate, under close state supervision, some of the...

Cardinal Health, Inc.

The FTC approved a final order settling antitrust charges against Cardinal Health, Inc., one of the world’s leading suppliers of pharmaceuticals and medical products, the agency announced.

Government grants

A former beauty queen was the face behind an operation that allegedly cheated customers out of $30 million by offering them bogus product and services, according to the FTC.

Employment scam

The FTC has halted a nationwide employment scam by a company that claimed it could help people get federal jobs by providing them with job listings not available to the general public, the agency...

Grupo Bimbo, Sara Lee

The Justice Department has reached a settlement over a merger of Grupo Bimbo, a Mexican company that controls Delaware-based BBU, and the U.S.-based Sara Lee Corporation. It requires the firms to...

Accountable Care Organizations

The Department of Justice and the FTC issued a joint policy statement explaining how the agencies will view accountable care organizations, which are organizations of health-care providers that...

Construction bid-rigging

Two Virginia contractors pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to steer contracts for repair and maintenance work at healthcare and nursing home facilities owned by Medical Facilities of...

The Justice Department announced that eight more Northern California real estate investors have agreed to plead guilty for their roles in two separate conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud...

H&R Block

Federal Judge Beryl A. Howell has blocked H & R Block’s $287.5 million acquisition of TaxACT, another tax preparation firm, according to news reports.

Johnson & Johnson

The European Commission announced that it has opened an antitrust investigation into arrangements between U.S. drug maker Johnson & Johnson and the generic division of Swiss-based Novartis.

Seagate

Seagate Technology’s acquisition of Samsung’s hard disk drive (HDD) business has been cleared by the European Commission following an in-depth investigation, the Commission announced.