Jones Day lawyers are able to combine their extensive experience in antitrust and complex criminal litigation matters to formulate effective and creative strategies for defending clients faced with allegations of criminal wrongdoing under antitrust and related statutes.  As a result, Jones Day has achieved the full range of successful outcomes for clients:  convincing the government not to bring charges, securing immunity for investigation targets, obtaining leniency under the U.S. Department of Justice and European Commission amnesty programs, and winning acquittals at trial.  When clients have found themselves faced with limited practical alternatives, Jones Day also has helped them navigate plea negotiations.

We have represented companies and individuals confronted with investigations involving allegations of price fixing, bid rigging, market allocation, and other anticompetitive conduct viewed by governments as criminal.  Our experience includes actions by authorities in the U.S., Canada, the European Union, and Australia.

Nations on five continents now follow the United States’ approach of criminally prosecuting corporations and individuals for the most serious antitrust violations.  Convergence has led to increasing cooperation among competition authorities in detecting, investigating and prosecuting cartels.  In response, companies subject to antitrust investigations must be careful to coordinate any leniency applications, investigation responses and plea agreements, so as to avoid having the response to enforcement in one jurisdiction compromise the defense in another.

Jones Day has extensive experience representing clients in multiple jurisdictions in criminal antitrust investigations and prosecutions involving a variety of industries, from basic commodity products to the delivery of high-technology products and services, including transportation, defense and construction contracting, construction materials, chemicals, metallic powders, bottling, crude oil, oilfield equipment, dairy products, steel containers, cellular technology, aerospace products, publishing, health care, international shipping, and other products and services.  We have substantial experience in all phases of the criminal antitrust process, from the pre-grand jury investigative stage to indictments and through trial.  

Jones Day has been a principal participant in the three most significant antitrust criminal proceedings of recent times.  In the Vitamins matter, Jones Day represented Rhône-Poulenc, a French company for which we obtained total amnesty for the company and its employees in both the U.S. and the EU.  In the EU, this was the first time a  company had received total amnesty.  Total fines paid by other companies exceeded $2 billion, and executives from several other companies served jail sentences in the U.S.  More recently, Jones Day represents a major Finnish paper producer that also obtained total immunity in the EU from alleged antitrust violations involving the paper products sector in Europe.  And Jones Day represented Bayer AG in a series of antitrust investigations with respect to various rubber chemicals and related products. According to The Wall Street Journal, these are among the most significant and far-reaching criminal investigations ever undertaken by the United States.