Mr. Connolly is a partner at Robert Connolly Law. Prior he was a Counsel at GeyerGorey in Washington, DC. His primary area of practice is antitrust, unfair competition, government investigations and antitrust compliance. Mr. Connolly has more than 30 years of experience at the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division. He joined the Antitrust Division as an Honors Attorney, was promoted to Assistant Chief of the Middle Atlantic Regional office and in 1994 was made Chief of that office, where he served until he joined DLA Piper in February 2013. During his time with DOJ, Mr. Connolly led and supervised criminal antitrust grand jury investigations in industries ranging from local construction companies to international conglomerates. These investigations led to criminal cases ranging from a conspiracy to rig bids on sewage treatment projects in Philadelphia to global price fixing cartels in industrial products. The grand jury investigations sometimes uncovered other criminal conduct such as related fraud, FCPA violations, obstruction of justice and tax matters.
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District Court Finds Antitrust Division’s First Wage Fixing Indictment Alleges a Per Se Violation* On November 29, 2021 in U.S. v. Neeraj Jindal and John Rodgers, Civil Action No. 4:20-CR-00358A (N.D. Texas), District Court Judge Amos L. Mazzant rejected defendants’ motion to dismiss the (...)
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Why I Think the Antitrust Division Should Reconsider Its Policy on No Notice/No Target Letter Indictments* Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard Powers recently delivered (virtually) prepared remarks (here) covering several criminal enforcement topics including: Compliance; Deferred (...)
286
Some “Twinkling of the Eye” Thoughts on NCAA v. Alston* The Supreme Court’s decision in Nat’l Collegiate Athletic Ass’n v. Alston, Nos. 20-512 and 20-520, 2021 WL 2519036, (U.S. June 21, 2021) is a boost for the Antitrust Division’s commitment to prosecute what it calls naked “wage fixing” and “no (...)
74
An Update on Criminal Antitrust Whistleblower Legislation* On Dec. 23, 2020, the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act (the “Act”), finally became law. The legislation had passed in the Senate several times previously but until this last Congress, had never been brought up for a vote in the (...)
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House Passes Antitrust Whistleblower Protections Authored by Senators Grassley, Leahy* Congratulations to Senator Chuck Grassley and Patrick Leahy for the passage in the House of Representatives of their bipartisan legislation that has already passed the Senate that aims to protect (...)
129
Some Early Thoughts On the Division’s New Policy On Corporate Compliance Programs (From a Guy Who Was Admittedly Against This When He Was With the Division)* There has been a great deal of publicity surrounding the Antitrust Division’s recent announcement that a corporation involved in a (...)
242
DOD Bid Rigging Whistleblower and Related Antitrust Division Criminal Cases* Last week the Antitrust Division announced that three South Korean companies had agreed to plead guilty and to enter into civil settlements for rigging bids on United States Department of Defense Fuel Supply Contracts (...)
311
DOJ and FTC Release Guidance on Antitrust Law and Employee Hiring and Compensation*In a press release issued on October 20, 2016, the Antitrust Division and the FTC issued antitrust guidance for human resource (HR) professionals and others who are involved in hiring and compensation decisions. (...)
339
Ninth Circuit’s Oral Argument on FTAIA Related Appeal* If an FTAIA related case is ever taken by the Supreme Court I believe it will be a private civil price fixing damage case like Best Buy Co., Inc. v. Hannstar Display Corporation. The Antitrust Division’s international cartel prosecutions (...)
223
China Fines 7 Shipping Companies $65 Million* Shipping cartels have been a frequent target of prosecution by the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice. The rules around shipping cartels can be confusing because certain joint pricing activity can be legal and there are (...)
157
Hong Kong Shipping Association Seeks Liner Exemption* The Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association has submitted to the Hong Kong Competition Commission for consideration a block exemption for liner shipping agreements. The HK Commission gave interested parties until March 24 to comment on the (...)
311
Antitrust Division Provides Guidance for an Effective Compliance Program* On Sept 16, 2015, The Antitrust Division announced that Kayaba Industry Co. Ltd., dba KYB Corporation (KYB) had agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $62 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix the price (...)
193
Should There Be an Antitrust Whistleblower Statute?* On July 22cd, the Senate passed the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act of 2015. The bill now goes to the House for consideration. If signed into law the Act will create for the first time whistleblower protections for employees who (...)
242
Antitrust Division Files First E-Commerce Case* David Topkins, a former executive at the E-Commerce Merchants Trade Association, an e-commerce seller of posters, prints and framed art, has agreed to plead guilty for conspiring to fix the prices of posters sold online. The one-count felony (...)
350
Indictments of Seven Japanese Executives Announced In Auto Parts Cartel Investigation* The Antitrust Division, through a federal grand jury, indicted seven Japanese executives for conspiring to fix prices in the long running auto parts investigation. There were two separate indictments. One (...)
235
Second Circuit Denies Government’s En Banc Petition in Munibonds Statute of Limitations Case* In its first Munibonds trial in 2012, the Antitrust Division convicted three former General Electric executives for rigging bids to suppress interest rates paid to municipalities on funds they raised (...)
157
The Unusual Hi-Tech Hiring Collusion Case: Judge Rejects Proposed Settlement; DOJ Brought Civil “Per Se” Cases* Last Friday Judge Lucy H. Koh issued an unusual ruling in a somewhat unusual case. The ruling was unusual in that the court rejected a proposed settlement in the hi-tech wage (...)
152
Seventh Circuit Panel to Rehear Motorola Mobility v. AU Optronics: A Preview of Some of the FTAIA Issues in Component International Price Fixing Cases* The Seventh Circuit has decided to rehear the appeal from a judgment dismissing nearly Motorola’s entire $3.5 billion antitrust claim against (...)
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Comcast v. Behrend: Supreme Court overturns class certification, upholds Rule 23 “rigorous analysis”* In Comcast Corp. et. al. v. Behrend, et. al., the Supreme Court of the United States, in a 5-4 decision written by Justice Antonin Scalia, reaffirmed the Court’s recent holding in Wal-Mart v. (...)
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