In Their Own Words…DOJ’s Daniel Glad’s Keynote Remarks on Whistleblowers at the Global Competition Review Cartels: Live! Conference

By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team 

On March 3, the DOJ Antitrust Division’s Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Enforcement, Daniel Glad, provided a keynote speech at the Global Competition Review Cartels: Live! Conference. During his speech, Glad focused on the government’s antitrust enforcement priorities and shared heartening comments about the DOJ’s Antitrust Whistleblower Rewards Program.[1]

It is worthwhile to read Glad’s entire address, but here are some of the highlights:

Glad’s Comments Supporting Whistleblowers and the Value of the DOJ Antitrust Whistleblower Rewards Program:

• • “We are already seeing a surge in whistleblower submissions [under the DOJ’s new Antitrust Whistleblower Rewards Program]. The program has brought in a substantial number of credible tips that the Antitrust Division’s prosecutors are working quickly to assess and build toward chargeable cases. The program is creating exactly what we intended: a new pipeline of leads from individuals with firsthand knowledge of criminal antitrust conduct that often occurs in secret. ATR is prioritizing moving these as quickly as possible, recognizing the difficult position whistleblowers are in and the need to move these expeditiously to resolution.”

• • “Just a short six months after the program’s inception, we announced the first-ever whistleblower reward, a $1 million payment to an individual whistleblower whose information led to criminal antitrust charges pertaining to a scheme involving bid rigging and ‘shill bidding’ in online used-vehicle auctions — conduct that affected used-car prices nationwide.”

• • Glad emphasized the breadth of the program requirement that the conduct affect the U.S. Postal Service: “many things can ‘affect’ the USPS, from rigging bids to USPS[,] to sending price-fixed prices or products through the mail[,] to sending or receiving invoices or payments through the mail. . . . [The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the USPS Office of Inspector General] are currently working active investigations across the broad spectrum of the U.S. economy, including healthcare, food supply, road building, infrastructure, construction supplies, automotive equipment and supplies, mail delivery, chemicals, and office and school supplies.”

• • Glad also described the interplay between the DOJ’s Antitrust Whistleblower Rewards Program and the DOJ’s leniency program for those first-in-the-door that self-report: “[T]hanks to our new Whistleblower Rewards Program, there is another lane in [the] leniency race: insider versus company. The race is now faster. Employees, former employees, consultants, and market participants have a financial incentive to report early with original information. That compresses timelines. . . . If a company learns of cartel conduct and treats it as a slow-moving internal matter . . . it is taking a risk that its own employees will make the first report. And if an employee reports first, the company’s ability to secure the benefits of leniency can evaporate quickly.”[2]

Glad’s Comments about the Importance of Antitrust Law in Protecting the Public

• • “[C]ompetitors must compete. When they secretly agree not to, that is not sharp business practice. That is a crime. That is fraud on the market. And in the procurement space, that is fraud on the public.”

• • “The [Procurement Collusion Strike Force] was built on a simple operational insight: procurement systems are vulnerable to collusion, but that collusion is highly detectable when the right people know what to look for. Procurement collusion remains a priority because the harm is direct and visible. It is not some esoteric crime where the only victim is ‘the system.’ It is a real crime with real victims — the taxpayers — who are being robbed by colluding contractors.”

• • “Even when competitors attempt to conceal their crime, they cannot help but leave behind a paper trail of bids, communications, pricing patterns, and contracting records. And increasingly, judges and juries recognize the real victims of these crimes: the taxpayers, whose money is being stolen.”

• • “When competitors agree not to compete, it’s not just a technical violation, and it isn’t a genteel crime. It is theft from the public. It undermines trust in our economy and corrupts the free-market system.”[3]

Constantine Cannon partner Daniel Vitelli commented, “It is clear from these remarks that the government is taking the new DOJ Antitrust Whistleblower Rewards Program very seriously. It is already paying dividends in the forms of increased tips from whistleblowers who are coming forward to report antitrust violations, increased investigations, and increased antitrust enforcement actions. Whistleblower reward programs like the SEC, CFTC, and IRS programs have a long history of success, and all indications are that the DOJ Antitrust Whistleblower Rewards Program will likewise result in substantial benefits for the public.”

Our Firm Represents Antitrust Whistleblowers

Constantine Cannon has significant experience representing antitrust whistleblowers under the DOJ’s Antitrust Whistleblower Rewards Program and the False Claims Act. Our firm was responsible for securing the largest antitrust False Claims Act recovery, among our other successes. The firm is also one of the country’s pre-eminent antitrust law firms, responsible for two of the largest antitrust settlements ever. Learn more about our antitrust litigation and counseling practice and representative cases here. Constantine Cannon’s representations have led to over $1 billion in government and whistleblower recoveries and an additional $5 billion for the firm’s other clients.

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Sources:

[1] See https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/acting-deputy-assistant-attorney-general-daniel-glad-delivers-keynote-global-competition.

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

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