The Antitrust Week In Review

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following.

EU antitrust regulators to investigate Broadcom, seek interim measures.  EU antitrust regulators opened on Wednesday an investigation into whether chipmaker Broadcom uses exclusivity restrictions to block rivals. The European Commission also said it plans to impose interim measures related to the TV and modem chipsets markets during the investigation. It sent a statement of objections or charge sheet to the company setting out the reasons why such measures are needed.

Antitrust regulators may also scrutinize internet firms’ cryptocurrencies: German cartel chief.  Cryptocurrencies backed by big internet companies could come under the scrutiny of antitrust regulators, the head of Germany’s Federal Cartel Office said on Thursday after Facebook last week launched its own version. Central bankers and financial watchdogs were quick to raise concerns about Facebook’s planned Libra global cryptocurrency, saying that it could become so pervasive as to disrupt the global monetary policy framework.

2 Norwegian Shipping Executives Indicted in Antitrust Case.  Two Norwegian shipping executives have been indicted on charges that they participated in a sprawling antitrust conspiracy. The case against the two Norwegian businessmen has been unsealed in federal court in Baltimore. It’s part of an ongoing U.S. investigation into bid rigging and other anticompetitive actions in the international shipping industry. The accused men were once top executives at Oslo-based Hoegh Autoliners. In a Wednesday statement, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim said a U.S. investigation revealed that collusion was “endemic and rampant” in the shipping industry for years.

Freight executives to serve U.S. prison time for price fixing.  Two executives of a freight forwarding company have been sentenced to prison for fixing the prices of freight forwarding services, the Justice Department said on Tuesday. Roberto Dip was sentenced to 18 months while Jason Handal was sentenced to 15 months for fixing the prices of freight forwarding from about 2010 to 2015, the department said. Freight forwarders organize shipments and contract with carriers to get goods from one point to another.

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