The U.S. Department of Justice continued to bare its teeth to criminal antitrust offenders last year, collecting more than $1 billion in fines and other monetary assessments. According to a new report issued by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, although individual criminal fines decreased in fiscal year 2011, the total amount secured for restitution, disgorgement, and other penalties skyrocketed to more than $500 million. The report also shows that non-prosecution agreements and a growing trend toward multi-agency investigations caused an overall shift away from criminal fines.
Lawyers at the firm called the DOJ’s successful municipal bonds investigation its “crowning achievement during 2011.” In late 2010, Bank of America reported its manipulation of the bidding process within the municipal bond derivatives market. The DOJ subsequently announced successive NPAs with four financial institutions that admitted to participating in the muni-bonds conspiracy.
