US: DOJ to hold roundtable on antitrust criminal penalty enhancement

On April 11, 2019, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division will hold a public roundtable to discuss the Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement & Reform Act (ACPERA).  ACPERA reduces the civil damages exposure of a company granted leniency under the Antitrust Division’s Leniency Policy if the company provides civil plaintiffs with timely, “satisfactory cooperation.”  ACPERA, Section 213(b) & (c), 15 U.S.C. § 1 notes.  The Antitrust Division seeks to hear the views of interested stakeholders regarding ACPERA and its impact on the Division’s criminal enforcement efforts.

The ACPERA Roundtable will provide a public forum for the Antitrust Division to engage with the antitrust community and gain insight from judges, attorneys, economists, academics, the business community, and other interested stakeholders on ACPERA.  The format of the Roundtable will be a series of panel discussions with featured speakers.

“The Division’s Leniency Policy is critical to the success of our criminal enforcement program.  I am proud to have been at the Division when ACPERA was enacted in 2004 and the Antitrust Division looks forward to examining how ACPERA is operating today,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim.  “The Division values input from those who have experience with ACPERA and other stakeholders who have considered ACPERA’s effects on the self-disclosure of wrongdoing.”

The roundtable will take place from 1-5 p.m., on April 11, 2019, in the Anne K. Bingaman Auditorium & Lecture Hall on the lower level of the Liberty Square Building, 450 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20530.