Lisa Phelan spoke to Global Competition Review about Department of Justice (DOJ) assistant attorney general Makan Delrahim’s warning to the head of FIFA, the international governing body for soccer, that it could violate antitrust laws by restricting the territory in which teams can play league games.
According to Lisa, it’s “an unusual step” for the DOJ to proactively advise a company that its conduct might violate U.S. antitrust law. She added that the agency would typically open an investigation if it believes a company may have broken the law and kept that probe secret to avoid tipping off suspected bad actors that might destroy evidence.