Eleanor Hudson Callaway

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On September 26, 2023 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 17 states filed suit against Amazon in the Western District of Washington, alleging the tech giant uses anticompetitive practices to maintain its monopoly power in its online supermarket store and marketplace services. The FTC seeks a permanent injunction to prohibit Amazon from continuing its alleged “punitive and coercive tactics.”

The FTC alleges Amazon engages in exclusionary conduct that both hinders the ability of competitors to meaningfully compete on Amazon’s platform, and inflates online prices for consumers. Amazon owns its marketplace platform, sells its products on its platform in competition with other online sellers, and controls the fulfillment, shipping, and delivery network that sellers and customers are incentivized to use. As alleged by the FTC, Amazon (among other things) punishes companies that discount their products on other platforms by burying those sellers in its search results, coerces sellers to obtain “Prime” eligibility for their products and use Amazon’s higher-cost delivery network, biases search results to preference Amazon’s own products, and charges unreasonable fees to hundreds of thousands of third-party sellers.Continue Reading The FTC and States Sue Amazon, Alleging Anticompetitive Practices

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On July 3, President Biden announced nominees Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak to the Federal Trade Commission, filling two Republican vacancies.

Ferguson has served as the Solicitor General of Virginia since February 2022, overseeing the state’s appellate litigation, including at the Supreme Court and federal courts of appeals. He served as counsel for Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and most recently, Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Ferguson spent several years in private practice after clerking for Judge Karen Henderson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Justice Clarence Thomas on the US Supreme Court. Ferguson earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia.Continue Reading White House Announces Nominees for FTC

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On June 2, 2023, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) dismissed 42 administrative enforcement actions and vacated 48 collateral industry bars because its Division of Enforcement (“Enforcement”) staff improperly had access to memoranda prepared to assist SEC Commissioners in deciding those matters.

The SEC investigates potential violations of the federal securities laws and is authorized by law to prosecute civil enforcement actions in its own in-house administrative courts or in federal court. The investigative and prosecutorial responsibilities are carried out by Enforcement staff and are required to be kept separate from the SEC’s in-house adjudication function.  However, on April 5, 2022, the SEC issued a statement disclosing that it identified a “control deficiency” in which certain SEC databases improperly allowed Enforcement staff to have access to memoranda prepared by the Office of the General Counsel Adjudication Group (“Adjudication Group”) to advise Commissioners in making decisions in administrative proceedings. Continue Reading SEC Dismisses 42 Enforcement Actions Because of Its Own Internal Control Deficiencies

By: Matthew A. Rossi and Eleanor Hudson Callaway

On Friday, April 14, 2023, the Supreme Court cleared the way for respondents in Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) administrative proceedings to challenge the constitutionality of those proceedings in federal district court while the administrative process is ongoing.  Typically, as required by…