Defending Corporate Executives Outside the US in Investigations and Prosecutions by the US DOJ’s Antitrust Division

August 5, 2010

Over the past decade, the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice has pursued a vigorous enforcement policy in prosecuting international cartel offenses against corporate as well as individual violators — both domestic and foreign.  In implementing this enforcement policy, the Antitrust Division has been prosecuting more individuals than it has in the past, and it has been seeking longer prison sentences.  Today, due to enhanced cooperation with law enforcement authorities in other nations, advanced investigative techniques and the ability to extradite fugitives from other countries with criminal antitrust laws, the Antitrust Division takes the position that "no-jail deals" for corporate executives located outside the United States are "a relic of the past."  Indeed, since 1999, more than 40 non-US executives have received prison sentences in the United States for international cartel offenses.

In their article prepared for MLex Magazine (July-September 2010), Lawrence Zweifach and Eric Creizman provide an overview of the Antitrust Division’s Policy on prosecuting individuals and the investigative tools employed by it in prosecuting business executives located outside the United States.  They also discuss some of the difficult issues that defense counsel for a non-US executive must consider from the inception of an antitrust investigation through the resolution of formal criminal charges, including the relevant features of the US criminal justice system that bear on these issues.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has been representing clients in antitrust matters for much of the last century.  Today, Gibson Dunn is recognized as one of the leading antitrust firms in the United States and worldwide.  Gibson Dunn was named by Chambers and Partners as the winner of the Chambers USA 2010 Award for Excellence in the Antitrust category.  In addition, Gibson Dunn has been ranked as one of six top-tier firms in the United States and recognized as a leading global firm for Competition/Antitrust law in Chambers Global’s 2010 Guide to the World’s Leading Lawyers; named as one of three "leading" firms for antitrust work in the United States in Practical Law Company’s Which Lawyer: Competition 2010; ranked as one of the six "Tier 1" firms for antitrust in the 2010 edition of the US Legal 500; and ranked by Global Competition Review 11th in the world in its Global Elite ranking.  As part of its global antitrust practice, Gibson Dunn represents corporations and business executives, located within and outside the United States, in federal grand jury investigations and prosecutions brought by the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice.

© 2010 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

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