Dealing with the Antitrust Authorities in the United States and Abroad

• Pages: 61-74

61

CHAPTER V

DEALING WITH THE ANTITRUST AUTHORITIES IN THE

UNITED STATES AND ABROAD

A. “Somebody from the Department of Justice (or the Federal

Trade Commission or a State Attorney General’s office) just

called — what should I do?”

The proper response to any government inquiry depends on the

nature of the inquiry itself. There are any number of situations in

which an individual or company might be contacted by someone from

the government. The contact could be the surprise execution of a search

warrant in a criminal investigation, a demand for information related to a

civil investigation, an attempt to gather information about the company

as part of an agency study of an industry, or an informal contact to gather

information about a transaction between other companies with which

your client may do business or compete. Your client’s response could be

completely voluntary, or it could be compelled by law (with significant

civil and/or criminal sanctions resulting from a failure to respond or a

failure to respond truthfully).

Care is required in responding to any contact from a government

investigator (no matter how informal or friendly the contact might seem)

because the possible consequences of an inappropriate or careless

response are serious. The government may commence an investigation

based on information obtained from a variety of sources, including

competitors, news reports, premerger notification filings, state agencies,

and private litigation. 1 Until the full context of an investigation is

1 Department of Justice, Antitrust Division Manual III: 1 [hereinafter AT

MANUAL]. The AT MANUAL is available from the Government Printing