The principal statutes affecting the investigative and litigation activities
of the Antitrust Division are the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act. Criminal
violations of the Sherman Act are the types of antitrust violations most likely
to come to the attention of United States Attorneys' offices.
The Sherman Act prohibits (a) contracts, combinations, or conspiracies in
restraint of interstate commerce or foreign trade, and (b) monopolization,
attempts to monopolize, or combinations or conspiracies to monopolize interstate
commerce or foreign trade. While every violation of this Act is technically a
felony, the Department reserves criminal prosecution for so called "naked" or
"per se" unlawful restraints of trade among competitors, e.g., price fixing, bid
rigging, and customer and territorial allocation agreements. Criminal violations
of this Act carry a maximum fine of $10 million for defendant corporations,
$350,000 for other organizations and $350,000 and a maximum prison sentence of
three years, or both, for individuals. SeeAntitrust Resource Manual at 6, "Identifying,
Detecting, and Proving Per Se Violations of the Sherman Act."
The Clayton Act prohibits corporate and other mergers -- and the acquisition
of stock or assets -- of competing companies, where the effect of such action may
be substantially to lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly.
Anticompetitive tying and exclusive dealing contracts are also prohibited, as are
certain interlocking directorates. Violations of this Act are prosecuted
civilly.