TOTM
Paying Whistleblowers to Take Down Cartels
Truth on the Market
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Cartel collusion among competitors is widely seen as the “supreme evil of antitrust,” and for more than three decades, competition-law enforcers in the United States and abroad have cooperated to ferret out cartel activity. Beginning in the 1990s, major jurisdictions started to emphasize highly effective “leniency” agreements to get cartel members to inform on their partners and thereby bring secret cartels to light.
Enforcers recently have taken stops to reverse apparent declines in the effectiveness of leniency programs. In July, the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) introduced a new program that features direct payments to whistleblowers who inform on cartels. This might usher in a new era of even more successful cartel enforcement.