[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 18 (Thursday, February 17, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1608-S1609]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            ANTITRUST INVESTIGATIVE IMPROVEMENTS ACT OF 2005

  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the Antitrust 
Investigative Improvements Act of 2005, a bill I am cosponsoring with 
Senators DeWine and Leahy. This bill will give the antitrust criminal 
enforcers at the Department of Justice a vital tool to investigate, 
detect, and prevent antitrust conspiracies. It will allow the Justice 
Department, upon a showing of probable cause to a Federal judge, 
authority to obtain a wiretap order for a limited time period to 
monitor communications between those suspected of engaging in illegal 
antitrust conspiracies.
  The current Federal criminal code lists over 150 predicate offenses 
for which the Justice Department may obtain a wiretap during the course 
of a criminal investigation. These offenses include such basic white 
collar crimes such as mail fraud, wire fraud, and bank fraud. However, 
under current law, if the Government is investigating a criminal 
antitrust conspiracy such as a scheme to fix prices to consumers, the 
Government cannot obtain a wiretap of the suspected conspirators. This 
inability to obtain wiretaps unquestionably severely handicaps the 
detection and prevention of such conspiracies. Only with the consent of 
a member of the conspiracy who has already agreed to cooperate with the 
Government may the Government surreptiously record the meetings of the 
conspirators.
  There is no logical basis to exclude criminal antitrust violations 
from the list of predicate offenses for a wiretap. A criminal antitrust 
offense such as price fixing is every bit as serious--and causes every 
bit as much financial loss to its victims--as other white collar crimes 
such as mail fraud or wire fraud. A price-fixing conspiracy raises 
prices to consumers, stealing hard-earned dollars from citizens as 
surely as does as a salesman promoting a bogus investment from a 
``boiler room'' or, indeed, a thief with a gun. Moreover, by its secret 
nature as an agreement among competitors, such a conspiracy is likely 
harder to detect than a fraudulent offering over the phone or through 
the mail. A properly issued wiretap, therefore, is even more necessary 
to detect criminal antitrust conspiracies than other white collar 
offenses.
  Detecting, preventing, and punishing criminal antitrust offenses are 
one of the principal missions of the Justice Department's Antitrust 
Division. Such offenses are punished severely with corporations facing 
fines of up to $100 million and individuals subject to jail terms of up 
to 10 years for each offense.

[[Page S1609]]

Indeed, last year we passed legislation raising criminal penalties to 
these new levels. Yet despite the damage these conspiracies do to the 
economy and individual consumers, our law enforcement agencies lack the 
one vital tool essential to uncover these secret conspiracies--the 
ability to obtain a wiretap to monitor communications between the 
suspected conspirators upon a showing of probable cause. This 
legislation will remedy this defect by granting to our law enforcement 
officials this necessary means to protect consumers and end illegal 
antitrust conspiracies.
  I urge my colleagues to join with me in supporting this legislation.

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