Morrison & Foerster partner Lisa Phelan discussed DOJ criminal antitrust investigations in the Law360 article “Did Citi Dupe DOJ In Forex Investigation?”
Lisa, who worked at the DOJ for more than 25 years prior to joining the firm, told Law360 that when the DOJ is conducting criminal antitrust investigations, it issues broad subpoenas requesting “all relevant information,” not just what companies offer to turn over. “The company would be obligated to provide that, or it would be obstructing justice,” Lisa said.
Lisa also noted that since most antitrust cases involve collusion among several companies, the DOJ subpoenas all of those suspected of being involved and compares what it finds from documents turned over by each of them to try to corroborate the stories. “It would never rely on just one company’s representation, or just what that company chose to bring forward,” Lisa said. “It would always get a much broader range of sources and then make decisions based on the totality of what it’s seeing.”