Antitrust and Competition

Cartels/Price Fixing

Investigations of and litigation concerning alleged cartel activity may cross international borders and include multiple legal jurisdictions. Fortunately, NERA’s global reach enables us to provide assistance to clients across Europe, Asia, and the Americas where regulators have heightened their focus on allegations of collusive anticompetitive behavior. As a result, NERA experts have extensive experience evaluating allegations of price fixing, bid rigging, customer and geographic allocation, buyer cartels, rate manipulation, and other collusive behavior throughout the world. Our economists have worked on a broad variety of criminal investigations and civil litigation involving allegedly anticompetitive agreements, including horizontal (between competitors) and vertical (between firms at different levels of the supply chain) agreements. Our previous work covers a wide variety of products and services, including agricultural commodities and natural resources, capital equipment, transportation and fuel surcharges, industrial inputs, consumer goods and services, and financial benchmarks.

NERA’s economists provide the full suite of capabilities and services needed to evaluate allegations of price fixing and other cartel activity, and to address all aspects and phases of the regulatory, enforcement, and legal processes that such allegations put into motion. We examine detailed transaction or bidding data and conduct a wide range of economic analysis to determine whether the alleged conspiracy is consistent with actual market conditions and rational economic behavior. Our experts assess the volume of commerce affected by alleged conspiracies, calculate the associated pecuniary gains or losses, and evaluate the effective duration and impact of alleged conspiracies.

In criminal matters, NERA's analyses have helped companies and individuals accused of anticompetitive collusion evaluate their exposure, prepare their best defense, or even avoid criminal charges altogether. In civil litigation, we examine whether liability, impact, and damages may be proved on a classwide basis using common proof; estimate overcharges, if any; and assist clients in reaching settlements with opposing parties. NERA experts also have testified at criminal and civil trials arising from cartel investigations, including testimony for individuals accused of criminal conduct.