US: FTC Bureau deputy director leaves agency for private practice

Bureau deputy director Steve Weissman is returning to Baker Botts LLP, where he was a partner in the firm’s antitrust group before leaving for the FTC in 2013.

Weissman led the FTC’s investigation of Sysco Corp.’s $8.2 billion attempt to acquire US Foods Inc., a deal that was terminated in June after the FTC challenged the transaction in court.

He also helped prepare the commission s challenge to Verisk Analytic Inc.’s proposed acquisition of EagleView Technology, which the parties scrapped last December prior to litigation.

“Steve has done a terrific job at the agency, most notably in negotiating disgorgement in Cardinal and leading the trial team in the successful trial in Sysco,” Bureau of Competition Director Deborah Feinstein said in an email Wednesday. “All of us at the bureau will miss him — and wish him well.”

Weissman came to the FTC in September 2013 a few months after Feinstein returned to the agency as part of the new leadership team brought in by FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez when she took the reins of the agency.

Full content: The Deal

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