Department of Justice

Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division announced the appointment of Alexander Okuliar to serve as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General. He will be responsible for civil merger and conduct investigations and litigation. Alex’s 20-year career has taken him through tours at both federal antitrust agencies and the private sector.

The Department of Justice withdrew the 1984 DOJ Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines, and, together with the Federal Trade Commission, released new draft 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines and seek public comment. The draft guidelines, open to comment for 30 days, describe how the federal antitrust agencies review vertical mergers to evaluate whether the mergers violate antitrust law.

The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division completed a nearly two-year long investigation into the standard-setting activities of the GSM Association (GSMA), a trade association for mobile network operators.

The Department of Justice announced that it has filed an amended complaint that adds Arkansas as a plaintiff in the suit and proposed settlement relating to the proposed merger of T-Mobile and Sprint.Arkansas joins Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Dakota in the settlement, which is designed to launch Dish Network as a fourth nationwide provider of retail mobile wireless services.  In addition to protecting competition, the proposed settlement will expedite the availability of high-quality 5G networks for American consumers and entrepreneurs.