Hire a Federal Antitrust Lawyer
Different rules guide the corporate world, and these rules help to encourage healthy competition and curb illegal activities. Because there are many of them, sometimes business owners without a solid knowledge of corporate laws break those rules.
Corporate crimes affect the economy at state and federal levels. As a result, various state and federal bodies regulate business and corporate acts.
If you have charges relating to antitrust violations, it will affect you and your business. Hiring a professional antitrust lawyer will help you increase the chances of getting the best trial for you and the most favorable outcome.
Call the Zoukis Consulting Group to let us start defending you against your charges.
What Are Antitrust Violations?
Antitrust violations are any actions that break laws concerning legal business processes. When you do anything to gain an undue advantage over competitors or affect consumers, it is an antitrust violation. Several conducts violate the antitrust laws. These violations include the following:
Price Fixing
Price fixing is a crime that directly affects consumers or customers. It is a situation whereby the major competitors come together to agree on a price. They do this because they know their consumers have no choice but to buy from them.
Generally, the prices they agree on are very unreasonable. Naturally, different market criteria determine the price. Coming together to fix fees that will increase profit illegally is a serious antitrust violation with severe punishment.
Bid Rigging
It is the illegal agreement of competing businesses to alter the standard bidding process. There are different categories of bid-rigging.
- Bid Suppression: This is an agreement to not participate in a bid so that a competitor can win the bid.
- Complementary Bidding: This is when competitors agree on the bidding prices. The buyer has no choice but to pay those amounts since there are no less expensive choices.
- Bid Rotation: This is a process whereby the competitor agrees on the lowest and highest bidding amount. They rotate the business that will make the highest bid and get the contract or deal.
Market Allocation
It is also known as market division. Companies pick a location as their business territory. Market allocation is a way of preventing competition in their geographical location. As a result, consumers in the locations do not have the opportunity of accessing products or services from different companies.
Boycotting
It is a conspiracy among business owners to sideline a customer or group of customers from their services. It is primarily a show of power or punishment. The customer may not be able to get the product or service anywhere.
Monopolization
It is a common antitrust violation. It is a process of dominating a market through illegal methods. It is natural for every business owner to want to stand out from the competition.
They try to achieve this by improving their products and services. They can also enhance their business processes, such as customer services. When businesses use illegal methods such as cutting off competition, it is a serious corporate crime.
Federal Antitrust Laws
The above actions by business owners are a violation if they follow illegal processes and break the federal antitrust laws. Antitrust laws are competition laws that ensure fair and healthy competition between businesses.
The government put these laws in place to ensure that business owners conduct their businesses legally and consumers are not affected by any action taken by business owners. There are three major federal antitrust laws. They include:
The Sherman Antitrust Act
This act guides “every contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade” and any “monopolization, attempted monopolization, or conspiracy or combination to monopolize.”
The Federal Trade Commission Act
The Federal Trade Commission Act bans “unfair methods of competition” and “unfair or deceptive acts or practices.”
The Clayton Act
This act improves on the Sherman act. The Sherman act states that monopoly is illegal. The Clayton Act, on the other hand, says that business practices that can lead to a monopoly are equally unlawful.
Antitrust Violation Regulation
The government is entirely in charge of enforcing antitrust laws. The Federal Trade Commission(FTC) and The Department of Justice (DOJ) also play a massive role in regulating antitrust violations.
The FTC is a body with the specific role of protecting consumers. They prevent unhealthy and illegal competition and unfair business practices. They enforce the Antitrust laws and work closely with The Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate and punish offenders.
Let an Antitrust Attorney Defend Your Rights
There are severe penalties for violating federal antitrust laws. The Sherman Antitrust Act, for example, will charge an individual fine of $1 million and up to $100 million for a corporation. These punishments can cripple a business.
With the help of an antitrust attorney, you can get professional defense. The Zoukis Consulting Group can also help to reduce punishment in terms of fines and imprisonment.
Call us today to schedule a one-hour initial consultation.
Published Feb 15, 2022 by Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA | Last Updated by Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA on May 12, 2023 at 12:46 pm
