Practice

Criminal Antitrust and Cartel Investigations

Strategic Defense for High-Stakes Antitrust Cartel Cases

Sheppard's criminal antitrust and cartel team defends companies and executives against high-stakes government antitrust enforcement actions. 

Our former senior prosecutors from DOJ, FTC, DG Comp and U.S. Attorneys’ offices bring key insight to antitrust investigations

Rapid Response Advocacy for Businesses and Individuals 

We defend clients in the most complex, high-stakes cartel matters, where the risks include criminal charges, incarceration and enterprise-threatening fines.

Whether representing an individual under indictment, a company swept into a global investigation, or guiding multinationals through simultaneous civil and criminal proceedings, Sheppard brings the experience, agility and advocacy to protect our clients’ highest interests. 

Criminal antitrust investigations often begin with sudden, high-profile government actions—search warrants, subpoenas, dawn raids or coordinated multi-agency inquiries. We act swiftly in those critical first hours, managing crisis response, coordinating across jurisdictions, and protecting both personal and corporate interests. Our work spans all major criminal cartel allegations, including price-fixing, bid-rigging, no-poach and wage-fixing, algorithmic collusion, information sharing and market allocation.

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Experience

Representative Matters

Representative Cartel Matters

  • Defending honey importer Export Packers Company Limited dba Odem International against an antitrust and RICO class action brought by a putative class of U.S. domestic beekeepers, relating to a purported conspiracy to sell foreign fake honey.
  • Assisting several global electronics and high-tech companies with their strategy and defense against cartel investigations by the UK CMA, the German Bundeskartellamt, and the European Commission, including defending those companies in private damages actions in front of UK courts, excluding them from investigations, substantially reducing fines, and obtaining advantageous settlements. 
  • Defending The Reynolds and Reynolds Company (“Reynolds”) in a case brought by Motor Vehicle Software Corporation (“MVSC”) alleging that Reynolds conspired with its competitor CDK Global LLC (“CDK”) to prevent MVSC from accessing the data it needed to compete in the Electronic Vehicle Registration and Titling markets in various states.
  • Represented an international fashion company in connection with DOJ criminal antitrust investigation relating to alleged discussions and agreements with competitors relating to ESG and pricing issues.
  • Successfully navigated a large energy company through self-disclosure under the DOJ Antitrust Division Leniency Policy marker process in a matter presenting complex legal and factual issues; DOJ closed the matter without charges or the matter becoming public. 
  • Successfully represented a Fortune 100 telecommunication and technology company through a non-public Antitrust Division criminal investigation. After navigating the company through two years of subpoena compliance and investigation, obtained a declination from DOJ, and the matter never became public.
  • Represented a healthcare executive in a non-public DOJ Antitrust Division criminal price-fixing investigation and obtained a DOJ declination for alleged criminal antitrust conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
  • Acted as lead trial counsel for defendants in a two-month antitrust trial in California federal court in case involving alleged price-fixing and market allocation claims relating to telescopes. Successfully obtained summary judgment on below-cost pricing and refusal to deal issues prior to trial.
  • Represented Samsung in numerous criminal and civil matters relating to alleged price-fixing of various products including CRTs, LCDs, SRAM, and DRAM.
  • Represented a light industrial government contractor in a criminal bid-rigging and wire fraud case.
  • Represented a government contractor in a criminal bid-rigging and collusion case.
  • Advised a UK company on the CMA’s cartel investigation into mobility scooters alleging vertical online price restrictions between manufacturers and retailers.
  • Represented ALSTOM in the EU/non-EU investigations of gas insulated switchgears and power transformers cases.

Representative No-Poach Litigation & Counseling

  • Representing aerospace industry outsource engineering supplier Cyient Inc. against antitrust claims brought by a class of aerospace engineers alleging a “no-poach” conspiracy among employers not to hire from each other from 2011 to the present. This consolidated suit is the largest such civil case filed to date, alleging a novel outsource supplier-customer conspiracy lasting over a decade and involving highly skilled employees. The civil litigation came after the U.S. Department of Justice announced the criminal indictments of various aerospace executives for their alleged participation in the conspiracy in December 2021, that resulted in a rare judicial judgment of acquittal.
  • Representing a major provider of construction materials in connection with a State Attorney General antitrust investigation relating to alleged conspiracy motivated by desire to reduce wages and/or benefits.
  • Representing the former Head of Human Resources for a technology and advertising company in a non-public DOJ Antitrust Division criminal no-poach investigation. 
  • Represented a corporate defendant in one of the first DOJ Antitrust Division criminal no-poach and wage-fixing prosecutions and negotiated first-ever corporate plea and novel resolution in such an investigation.
  • Represented a major California health insurer in a criminal no-poach and geographic allegation conspiracy case where leniency was obtained.
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