Isn't it a little bizzare that they have fined 13 separate firms for cartelizing Air Transport? If I were #14 on the chopping block, I would point out that the DOJ seems to be intent on cartelizing the industry themselves by eliminating all competition for American firms by fining everyone else!
It would be interesting to see the dates on these fines as well. It seems like fines are very concentrated in a few industries - vitamins, computer parts (DRAM, LCDs, etc), and air transport make up most of the list by themselves.
All of the air transportation fines arise from one investigation. The investigation is ongoing and, since the linked report was created on 8/27/10, Polar Air Cargo (a U.S. firm) has agreed to a $17.4 million fine as part of the same antitrust action.
Note that same-industry defendants have clustered fine dates (which are in the left-most column). As with air transportation, each industry represents one investigation. The vitamin defendants have dates of 1998-2000, LCD panels are all 1999-2000, DRAM are 2004-2006, and so on.
"Because international cartels affect such a large volume of U.S. commerce and the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines fines are based in large part on the amount of commerce affected by the cartel, fines obtained by the Division have increased dramatically in the last several years" (source). (The Antitrust Division started focusing on international matters in 1993.) It would make sense, then, that fines against international cartels would be more likely to show up on the list of biggest fines.
Isn't it a little bizzare that they have fined 13 separate firms for cartelizing Air Transport? If I were #14 on the chopping block, I would point out that the DOJ seems to be intent on cartelizing the industry themselves by eliminating all competition for American firms by fining everyone else!
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to see the dates on these fines as well. It seems like fines are very concentrated in a few industries - vitamins, computer parts (DRAM, LCDs, etc), and air transport make up most of the list by themselves.
All of the air transportation fines arise from one investigation. The investigation is ongoing and, since the linked report was created on 8/27/10, Polar Air Cargo (a U.S. firm) has agreed to a $17.4 million fine as part of the same antitrust action.
ReplyDeleteNote that same-industry defendants have clustered fine dates (which are in the left-most column). As with air transportation, each industry represents one investigation. The vitamin defendants have dates of 1998-2000, LCD panels are all 1999-2000, DRAM are 2004-2006, and so on.
"Because international cartels affect such a large volume of U.S. commerce and the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines fines are based in large part on the amount of commerce affected by the cartel, fines obtained by the Division have increased dramatically in the last several years" (source). (The Antitrust Division started focusing on international matters in 1993.) It would make sense, then, that fines against international cartels would be more likely to show up on the list of biggest fines.