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So your probably holding this FTC civil investigative demand about antitrust violations and your entire business strategy is unraveling. Maybe competitors complained about your pricing. Maybe your merger triggered review. Or maybe your just caught up in there latest monopolization crusade. Look, we get it. Your ABSOLUTELY PANICKED. And you should be! Because FTC can block mergers, break up companies, and refer cases for CRIMINAL prosecution with executives facing 10 YEARS in federal prison!
Let me explain the antitrust nightmare your facing. The Bureau of Competition has virtually unlimited investigative powers to destroy any business they think is “anticompetitive”!
The FTC doesn’t need court approval to issue CIDs – they just send them! Demand millions of documents? Done! Force executives to testify under oath? Easy! Access your most sensitive business strategies? ABSOLUTELY! We’ve seen companies spend $10 million just responding to impossible CID demands!
Here’s what’s really scary – FTC can demand ANY information they claim is “relevant” to there investigation! Your pricing algorithms? Hand them over! Customer contracts? All of them! Internal strategy emails? Every single one! They literally demand your entire business playbook!
Hold onto your market share because these penalties will destroy everything you’ve built!
Civil penalties are devastating – merger blocked? Years of planning and millions in fees wasted! Forced divestiture? Sell your best assets at fire-sale prices! Behavioral remedies? Let competitors access your innovations! We’ve seen billion-dollar deals killed by FTC opposition!
But criminal antitrust is TERRIFYING! Sherman Act violations carry 10 years federal prison and $100 million corporate fines! Price fixing? Executives go to prison! Market allocation? PRISON! Bid rigging? Definitely prison! One CEO got 5 years for a single meeting with competitors!
Your probably wondering “Who complained about us?” Let me tell you what puts companies in FTC’s crosshairs:
FTC has “streamlined” investigations in key areas meaning they target specific industries aggressively! Tech companies, healthcare, pharma, energy – if your successful in these sectors, your a target!
Competitor complaints are the deadliest trigger! Losing market share? Complain to FTC about “anticompetitive conduct”! Can’t match prices? Claim predatory pricing! We’ve seen companies weaponize FTC to destroy more efficient competitors!
The scope is absolutley overwhelming! FTC demands impossibly broad categories of information:
All documents relating to competition – how do you even define that? Every email mentioning competitors, pricing, or market share! Strategic plans, board presentations, financial projections! Customer communications, supplier contracts, distribution agreements! Even personal phones and texts of executives!
The worst part? Short deadlines! 30 days to produce millions of documents! Extensions rarely granted! Miss the deadline? FTC goes to court like they did with Total Wine – federal judge orders compliance or face contempt!
YES! And they do it regularly! FTC works closely with DOJ Antitrust Division for criminal referrals!
The FTC investigates civilly while DOJ pursues criminal charges simultaneously! Your giving documents to FTC that become evidence in criminal case! That deposition to FTC lawyers? Becomes grand jury testimony! We’ve seen executives arrested based on information they provided “cooperating” with FTC!
Recent criminal antitrust prosecutions are terrifying! Executives from major corporations imprisoned! Not just CEOs – sales directors, regional managers, even analysts! One company had 8 executives indicted from single investigation! There not playing games anymore!
Merger CIDs are particularly BRUTAL! FTC has dramatically increased merger enforcement!
Second Request CIDs demand impossible amounts of information – every document, email, text, Slack message remotely related to competition! Companies spend $20+ million just responding! Months of delay kill deal momentum! Financing expires! Stock prices crash! We’ve seen perfectly legal mergers abandoned because compliance costs exceeded deal value!
Even “small” deals get scrutinized! No longer safe harbors! FTC challenges $10 million acquisitions if they don’t like market dynamics! Vertical mergers, conglomerate mergers – everything is suspect! One client’s tiny acquisition got blocked after spending $5 million on compliance!
FTC investigations paralyze companies for YEARS! The investigation process is designed to exhaust resources!
Your executives spend all there time responding to CIDs instead of running business! Legal costs explode – $500,000 monthly is common! Competitors know your under investigation and use it against you! Customers get nervous and switch suppliers! We’ve seen market leaders become also-rans during FTC investigations!
The “chilling effect” destroys innovation! Can’t launch new products – might be “exclusionary”! Can’t offer discounts – could be “predatory pricing”! Can’t improve efficiency – might “harm competitors”! Your forced to compete with both hands tied!
Refusing to comply with CIDs leads to FEDERAL CONTEMPT! FTC aggressively enforces CIDs through federal courts!
Civil contempt means daily fines until compliance – we’ve seen $50,000 PER DAY! Criminal contempt means executives go to jail! Not eventually – IMMEDIATELY! Federal marshals arrest non-compliant executives! One CEO spent 6 months in jail for refusing to produce documents!
“Substantial compliance” isn’t enough! FTC demands PERFECT compliance! Missing one email? Contempt! Can’t find old document? Contempt! Privilege claims rejected? CONTEMPT! The standard is impossibly high!
Buckle up for YEARS of regulatory torture! FTC investigations are intentionally lengthy:
Initial CID response (30-60 days of document production hell), follow-up CIDs demanding more (ongoing for months), depositions of executives and employees (6-12 months), economic analysis and expert reports (6-12 months), settlement negotiations or litigation (12-36 months)!
Your looking at 3-5 years MINIMUM! During merger reviews, deals die from delay! During conduct investigations, business stagnates! Legal fees? Expect $5-10 MILLION for serious antitrust defense! We’ve seen companies spend $50 million defending against investigations that found nothing wrong!
State AGs pile on with parallel investigations! States have independent antitrust authority!
California, New York, Texas – they all want there piece! State CIDs on top of federal! Different deadlines, different demands, different theories! Comply with FTC? States want more! Settle with FTC? States keep investigating! We’ve seen companies face 20+ state investigations simultaneously!
Multi-state task forces coordinate to maximize pressure! Information shared between states and FTC! One investigation triggers dozens! Even if you win against FTC, states continue attacking! Its death by a thousand cuts!
Privilege fights with FTC are BRUTAL battles! FTC challenges privilege aggressively!
Attorney-client privilege? They claim crime-fraud exception! Work product? They say its business documents! Confidential strategies? They demand everything! Privilege logs alone cost hundreds of thousands to prepare! Then FTC challenges every entry!
Trade secrets get NO protection! FTC demands your most sensitive competitive information! Secret algorithms? Hand them over! Customer lists? Theirs! Pricing strategies? Completely exposed! Your competitors can request this information through FOIA! We’ve seen companies’ entire business models revealed publicly!
Look, we’re not your typical corporate lawyers who just review contracts. We’re antitrust defense specialists who protect companies when FTC decides to destroy them!
We understand economic theories FTC uses and how to counter them. We know how to narrow impossibly broad CID demands. We can demonstrate pro-competitive justifications for conduct FTC challenges. Most importantly, we prevent civil investigations from becoming criminal prosecutions!
Other firms tell you to cooperate fully and educate FTC about your business. That’s EXACTLY how companies get destroyed! FTC doesn’t want to understand – they want to win! We fight strategically, protecting your business while challenging there overreach!
Call us RIGHT NOW at 212-300-5196
FTC investigations destroy market leaders overnight!
Former FTC attorneys – Antitrust defense experts – Available 24/7!
Don’t wait another second! FTC investigations accelerate quickly once CIDs issue. There reviewing your documents, analyzing your market share, building economic models to destroy you. Competitors are providing ammunition. Criminal prosecutors may already be involved!
Remember – antitrust violations aren’t just civil matters anymore. Executives go to federal prison for competing too successfully. One strategic decision, one customer contract, one competitive advantage can trigger years of investigation and criminal prosecution. You need someone who understands both antitrust complexity AND criminal defense. Call us NOW before that CID becomes an indictment!
Very diligent, organized associates; got my case dismissed. Hard working attorneys who can put up with your anxiousness. I was accused of robbing a gemstone dealer. Definitely A law group that lays out all possible options and best alternative routes. Recommended for sure.
- ROBIN, GUN CHARGES ROBIN
NJ CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEYS