U.S. Senators Mike DeWine (R-OH) and Herb Kohl (D-WI), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary, Antitrust Subcommittee, today introduced a bill that would give the Department of Justice a much-needed tool to investigate and prosecute criminal antitrust conspiracies. The legislation protects consumers from conspiracies like price-fixing and bid-rigging which drive up prices and stifle competition.

The "Antitrust Investigative Improvements Act of 2005" would add criminal antitrust offenses to the list of so-called "predicate offenses" under the wiretap statute. By adding criminal antitrust offenses to the list, the Department of Justice would be authorized to seek a wiretap order from a federal judge -- for a limited period of time -- to monitor communications between criminal antitrust conspirators. This legislation would treat criminal antitrust offenses the same as such white-collar offenses as mail fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud, for which prosecutors are able to seek wiretap orders upon a showing of probable cause.

"It is time to give the Department of Justice this tool. Under current law, the Department of Justice can seek a wiretap order when investigating other white-collar fraud offenses like wire fraud, mail fraud or bank fraud, but it cannot do so when investigating a criminal antitrust conspiracy," said Senator DeWine. "I think this is a mistake. In many instances the harm to innocent consumers from a criminal antitrust conspiracy is much more severe than in other types of white-collar fraud crimes."

Senator Kohl observed, "Because of their secret nature, antitrust conspiracies are extremely hard to uncover unless prosecutors can penetrate the inner workings of the conspiracy. And antitrust conspiracies such as price-fixing and bid-rigging steal from consumers just as surely as other white-collar crimes such as mail or wire fraud for which prosecutors do have the ability to obtain wiretaps. It is vital that we give law enforcement all the necessary tools to detect these conspiracies. By giving prosecutors the necessary authority to obtain a wiretap in these cases, we will greatly enhance their ability to aggressively bust up these criminal enterprises."

Under current antitrust law, for a criminal offense, corporations may be fined up to $100 million and individuals may be fined up to $1 million and incarcerated up to 10 years. The Department of Justice criminally prosecutes certain violations of the Sherman Act, such as price-fixing or bid-rigging agreements among competitors.

This bill is co-sponsored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont).

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