Antitrust and Competition Co-Chair Gregory Asciolla was interviewed by CNN Business on the importance of public enforcement in mitigating antitrust violations, because he thinks multi-million dollar settlements are often seen as "just the cost of doing business."
"I don't think that companies are going to get away with antitrust violations, because we and the Justice Department are extremely vigilant," Asciolla told CNN. "But do I think the conduct is going to stop? Unfortunately I see the same companies doing it over and over again."
CNN was writing about the decades-long decline of public antitrust enforcement. While private actions have picked up the slack, plaintiff civil actions alone are not not enough to stomp out antitrust violations, according to Asciolla. "The company pays a huge fine and nobody goes to jail...When more individuals see actual human beings going to jail, that might stop people from engaging in such conduct." Click here to read the full article.