Senator Elizabeth Warren urges U.S. Justice Dept to aggressively fight price-fixing

Taro Pharmaceutical Industries

08/02/2022 19:00

WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren,
a Democrat who has argued for the breakup of tech giants like
Amazon, Google and Facebook, has urged the Justice Department to
be more aggressive in fighting price-fixing and to stop making
deals with corporate wrongdoers that defer prosecution in
exchange for good behavior.
    "The nation is dealing with inflation at its highest level
in decades, much of it driven by corporate greed and
anticompetitive behavior, and the federal government must use
every tool available to prevent price gouging and reduce prices
for Americans," Warren wrote in a letter dated Monday and sent
to Attorney General Merrick Garland and his deputy, Lisa Monaco.
    Price-fixing is a criminal violation and can lead to
executives going to jail for months. Deferred prosecution
agreements mean that defendants get charges dropped if they
comply with certain demands from the prosecutor.
    The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a
request for comment. 
    Warren criticized, in particular, price-fixing deferred
prosecution agreements that the department reached with Argos
USA, a cement producer, and three generic drugs companies, Taro
Pharmaceuticals, Novartis unit Sandoz, and Apotex.
    Warren said the Argos deal was "unusual particularly because
the concrete industry has been rife with criminal antitrust
issues for decades." Regarding the deals with pharmaceutical
companies, she said that "none of the criminal executives will
see any time in prison in spite of confessed illegal practices
scamming the government and patients in need of drugs." 
    Warren asked Garland and Monaco for any data that the
department kept regarding price-fixing enforcement efforts,
including prison sentences that executives might be serving,
penalties and restitution; information on how the Justice
Department decides to enter into deferred prosecution agreements
and whether the government has observed multiple instances of
price-fixing in any industry and focused resources there.   
    The Justice Department has prosecuted cases involving major
companies in the past.
    Pilgrim's Pride Corp  PPC.O , one of the largest U.S.
poultry producers, pleaded guilty after the Justice Department
filed a lawsuit and was sentenced to pay a $107.9 million fine
in February 2021 to settle federal charges it conspired to fix
chicken prices and passed on the costs to consumers and other
purchasers.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2KS2DD

 (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
 ((Diane.Bartz@thomsonreuters.com; 1 202 898 8313;))