Antitrust continues to be a hot topic in the law, the news, board rooms and C-Suites. U.S. antitrust agencies have followed through with their promises to be more aggressive and have formally reaffirmed commitments to working with a number of other federal agencies, as well as each other, to further strengthen antitrust enforcement. Despite facing skepticism from and challenges in the courts, both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division have persisted in their efforts to expand their enforcement authority and ramp up enforcement generally. Merger challenges have been on the rise, as well as efforts to pursue civil cases, particularly in the tech industry. Moreover, drastic changes to enforcement policy and guidelines may be on the horizon, in addition to new legislation. Here's a recap of the major events of 2022 and developments to look for in 2023.

DOJ Commits to Criminal Prosecutions

The DOJ Antitrust Division has sought to expand the scope of its enforcement authority, particularly since Jonathan Kanter was appointed Assistant Attorney General at the end of 2021. At the 2022 Spring Enforcers Summit, AAG Kanter emphasized the DOJ's commitment to litigate not only civil but also criminal cases, even those that may be challenging to bring. Indeed, the government attempted three times to win a price-fixing conviction against executives from poultry companies Pilgrim's Pride and Claxton Poultry Farms and was ultimately unsuccessful—a jury found all five defendants not guilty. The DOJ has also continued its crackdown on criminal bid-rigging since the creation of its Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF) at the end of 2019, securing numerous convictions and guilty pleas over the past year in cases across a range of industries—including construction, insulation contracting, farmland auctions, and military contracts.