Antitrust Violations
Conduct Screen Corporate Misconduct
Companies engaged in anti-competitive practices — price-fixing conspiracies, monopolistic behavior, market manipulation, bid-rigging, and abuse of dominant market position. Includes companies that have received significant antitrust enforcement from the DOJ, FTC, or European Commission.
32 companies currently excluded under this screen
Excluded Companies (32 total)
Showing 25 of 32 companies excluded under this screen.
| Ticker | Company | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| LIN | Linde | In April 2024, Chile's Fiscalía Nacional Económica (FNE) charged Linde Gas Chile and Indura (controlled by Air Products) with operating a cartel in industrial and medical gases. The FNE found that starting in November 2019, the two companies' general managers agreed to stop competing for each other's customers — executives refrained from bidding, submitted intentionally high prices, or withdrew winning offers. The collusion spanned metallurgical, pulp, forestry, aquaculture, food, mining, and hospital gas markets. The FNE sought US$31.2 million in fines against Indura; Linde received leniency for cooperating with the investigation. The cartel was uncovered through wiretaps and seizures. Separately, in January 2024, FERC approved a $66.7 million settlement against NIPSCO and Linde for gaming MISO's demand response program — manipulating the regional electricity market by misrepresenting demand reduction capabilities. In Hong Kong, the Competition Commission accused Linde of abuse of dominance in the medical gases market, describing the company's refusal to supply a competitor as 'disgraceful' conduct so egregious that 'no analysis is required to show how that behaviour impacted competition.' Three jurisdictions, three enforcement actions, one pattern: Linde leverages its dominant position in concentrated industrial gas markets to suppress competition. |
| AAPL | Apple | In 2025, a U.S. federal judge allowed a landmark DOJ lawsuit to proceed, finding plausible evidence that Apple illegally monopolizes the smartphone market by suppressing "super apps," limiting cross-platform messaging, and restricting digital wallet access. Simultaneously, the European Commission issued a €500 million fine for Digital Markets Act violations, ruling that Apple’s "anti-steering" tactics unfairly inflated consumer costs. In the UK, the Competition Appeal Tribunal recently ruled that Apple’s 30% App Store commission is "excessive and unfair," paving the way for a £1.5 billion collective damages claim. These global findings, bolstered by a February 2026 trial date for the Pepper class action and forced regulatory concessions in Japan, demonstrate a persistent reliance on exclusionary market structures to maintain dominance and extract supra-competitive fees. |
| FWONK | Liberty Media Formula One Corp Ser | Liberty Media Formula One Corp Ser is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for potential antitrust violations related to its control of the Formula 1 World Championship. The investigation, opened in August 2024, stems from Liberty Media’s rejection of Andretti Global’s bid to join the sport as a new team. As the owner of the commercial rights to Formula 1, Liberty Media holds significant power over team entry and the structure of the championship. A separate report in October 2024 indicates a Belgian MP has requested the European Commission investigate Liberty Media for alleged monopolistic dominance in motorsport broadcasting and commercial rights. This scrutiny follows a history of regulatory attention, including a UK competition investigation into Liberty Media’s initial $8 billion acquisition of Formula 1 in 2016. |
| MA | MASTERCARD INC | In May 2023, the FTC finalized a consent order finding that Mastercard used "illegal business tactics" to force merchants onto its debit payment network, violating the Durbin Amendment's requirement that merchants have routing choices. The order runs 10 years with annual compliance reporting. Separately, Mastercard is co-defendant with Visa in a massive ongoing merchant class action over interchange fees; an amended settlement proposed November 2025 would cut interchange rates and allow merchants to decline some high-cost cards (pending court approval, expected late 2026). A $197.5M ATM fee antitrust settlement with Visa and Mastercard received final court approval in June 2025. The earlier 2010 DOJ settlement addressed anticompetitive merchant-steering restrictions. |
| V | VISA INC | The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in September 2024 alleging Visa holds an illegal monopoly over U.S. debit card transactions — controlling over 60% of the market and extracting $7 billion+ in annual fees. This is a Section 2 Sherman Act monopolization case, more serious than a merger challenge. The DOJ alleges Visa uses anticompetitive pricing to discourage merchants from routing transactions to competitors, imposes contracts restricting issuer competition, and pays potential fintech competitors (Apple, PayPal) to stay out of the debit market. In June 2025, a federal judge denied Visa's motion to dismiss, finding the DOJ's allegations plausible. The case is in active discovery as of March 2026 with trial likely in 2027-2028. |
| RHHBY | ROCHE HLDGS AD GENUSSCHEINE NPV | F. Hoffmann-La Roche led a nine-year international vitamin price-fixing cartel (1990-1999) that manipulated prices on vitamins A, B2, B5, C, E, and Beta Carotene used in nutritional supplements, human food, and animal feed, affecting more than $5 billion in commerce. The DOJ imposed a $500 million criminal fine on Roche in May 1999, the largest antitrust fine in U.S. history at the time, while BASF paid $345 million as co-conspirator. Roche executive Kuno Sommer served a four-month prison sentence. The European Commission subsequently fined Roche an additional 462 million euros as the cartel's ringleader and main beneficiary, identifying the company as responsible for organizing all 12 separate vitamin cartels. |
| META | Meta Platforms, Inc. | In November 2024, the European Commission fined Meta EUR797.7 million for tying Facebook Marketplace to Facebook, finding Meta abused its dominant position by imposing unfair trading conditions on competing online classified ad services. The decision found Meta leveraged its near-universal personal social network to benefit Marketplace at the expense of competitors like eBay, Vinted, and willhaben. Meta is appealing. Separately, the FTC's landmark antitrust case seeking to force divestiture of Instagram and WhatsApp was dismissed on November 18, 2025, when Judge Boasberg ruled the FTC failed to prove Meta holds monopoly power under a properly defined market that includes TikTok and YouTube. |
| NVDA | NVIDIA Corporation | In September 2025, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) issued a formal finding that NVIDIA violated the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) by breaching the behavioral conditions tied to its 2020 acquisition of Mellanox. Specifically, SAMR alleges NVIDIA engaged in illegal "tying" and discriminatory licensing to forestall competition in the Chinese high-performance networking market. Simultaneously, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued subpoenas in late 2024 as part of an ongoing investigation into whether NVIDIA punishes customers who switch to rival AI chips or use competing software management tools. |
| MAA | MID AMERICA APARTMENT COMMUNITIES INC | Mid-America Apartment Communities (nearly 100,000 units) agreed to pay $53M (two $26.5M installments starting Mar 2026) to settle its portion of a sweeping class-action alleging the nation's largest apartment landlords conspired to inflate rents via RealPage's algorithmic pricing software. Landlords shared non-public occupancy and pricing data through RealPage, enabling coordinated rent-setting. MAA denies wrongdoing but agreed not to share certain competitive data. Part of broader MDL where 27 other landlords settled for a combined $141M. |
| CSGP | COSTAR GROUP INC | In June 2025, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals revived a major antitrust lawsuit (CoStar v. CREXi), ruling CoStar plausibly used monopoly power for anticompetitive conduct including "de facto exclusive deals" with brokers and "technological barriers" to freeze out competitors. Additionally, CoStar is a central defendant in Portillo v. CoStar Group, a price-fixing lawsuit alleging its STR subsidiary functions as a "hub" for illegal information exchange among luxury hotel operators to inflate room rates. |
| GOOGL | Alphabet Inc. | Federal court ruled Google unlawfully maintained monopoly in online search market through exclusionary distribution contracts (paying Apple ~$18B/year to be default search engine). DOJ prevailed August 2024 — court ordered remedies including prohibition on exclusive default-search contracts. Separate ruling: Google monopolized digital advertising technology stack. Systemic global antitrust enforcement: €4.34B Android fine (2018), €2.42B Shopping fine (2017), €1.49B AdSense fine (2019). |
| ANET | ARISTA NETWORKS INC | Arista Networks paid Cisco $400M (Aug 2018) to settle a four-year patent infringement dispute involving networking technology, with Arista dropping its antitrust counterclaims as part of the deal. The FTC separately reviewed Broadcom's $5.9B acquisition of Brocade (2017), a competitor in fibre channel switches where Arista operates, issuing a consent order with firewall requirements and a five-year monitor to protect confidential competitive information in the duopoly market. |
| NOW | SERVICENOW INC | DOJ launched an in-depth antitrust review (June 2025) of ServiceNow's $2.85B acquisition of Moveworks, an enterprise AI company, issuing a second request for information to both companies. Concern centered on overlapping automation offerings for internal IT tasks and potential foreclosure -- whether ServiceNow would restrict Moveworks' availability on competing service management platforms. Deal ultimately cleared and closed Dec 2025 after regulatory conditions were met. |
| SNPS | SYNOPSYS INC | FTC alleged Synopsys's $35B acquisition of Ansys (announced 2024) would eliminate head-to-head competition in three critical semiconductor design software markets: optical tools, photonic device simulation, and RTL power consumption analysis. Consent order (finalized Oct 2025 by 3-0 vote) required Synopsys to divest optical and photonic tools, and Ansys to divest PowerArtist, all to Keysight Technologies. Divestitures must complete within 10 days of closing. |
| CPT | CAMDEN PROPERTY TRUST | DOJ amended complaint (Jan 2025) names Camden Property Trust in hub-and-spoke RealPage algorithmic price-fixing conspiracy. Camden shared non-public lease prices, occupancy projections, and unit amenity data with RealPage, which used YieldStar/AIRM algorithms to coordinate pricing that suppressed rent discounting across competing landlords — eliminating independent pricing decisions and artificially inflating rents for millions of US households. |
| HEI | HeidelbergCement | Romania 2025: Romanian Competition Council fined Heidelberg Materials Romania ~€15M (Jan 2025) for price collusion with Holcim and CRH via information exchange through sales agents 2017-2018. Germany 2013: German Federal Court of Justice upheld €161.4M fine for participation in German cement cartel (early 1990s–2002) involving illegal quota and market-sharing agreements with Holcim and Dyckerhoff. |
| ABEV | Ambev S.A. | In October 2023, the Brazilian Antitrust Authority (CADE) signed a "Cease and Desist" agreement with Ambev following investigations into exclusivity contracts with bars and restaurants. The agreement, which runs through December 2028, strictly limits the duration and automatic renewal of these contracts to prevent Ambev from blocking competitors (like Heineken) from strategic points of sale. |
| HSIC | HENRY SCHEIN INC | Henry Schein was a primary defendant in massive MDL alleging conspiracy with Benco Dental and Patterson Companies to fix price margins and boycott buying groups. In June 2019, $80M class-action settlement received final approval. FTC successfully litigated administrative complaint concluding the trio "unreasonably restrained price competition" for dental products in the United States. |
| AVGO | BROADCOM INC | FTC charged Broadcom with illegal monopolization of semiconductor markets (2021); consent order bars exclusivity agreements. 14 penalty records totaling $556M per ViolationTracker — primarily price-fixing and anti-competitive practices. Post-VMware acquisition licensing described as "anti-competitive, unfair, and unethical" by industry stakeholders. |
| EW | Edwards Lifesciences Corporation | FTC filed complaint (2024) to block Edwards Lifesciences acquisition of JenaValve and JC Medical, alleging intent to eliminate competitors in transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) market. EU investigated anti-copycat policy that blocked competitors from developing similar heart valve technologies. |
| PSKY | PARAMOUNT SKYDANCE CORP | Paramount Skydance is under active DOJ antitrust investigation regarding its proposed $110.9 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The DOJ issued subpoenas to evaluate how the mega-merger would consolidate studio output, hoard content rights, and crush competition among streaming services. |
| EQR | EQUITY RESIDENTIAL | Equity Residential named in DOJ investigation of RealPage algorithmic rent-fixing cartel (2024); coordinated rent increases across major metros harming millions of tenants. Prior $770k DOJ Fair Housing Act settlement (2012) for discriminatory occupancy limits at Chicago-area properties. |
| EMR | EMERSON ELECTRIC | $164.4M capacitor price-fixing settlement (2020). Emerson subsidiary participated in coordinated market manipulation as part of a major class-action involving multiple manufacturers. Direct evidence of anticompetitive conduct with material financial penalties. |
| FDS | FACTSET RESEARCH SYSTEMS INC | A class-action antitrust lawsuit filed March 4, 2024 alleges FactSet Research Systems conspired with CUSIP Global Services, S&P Global, and the American Bankers Association to eliminate competition in the financial instrument ID number market. |
| LYV | LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT INC | On May 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and its subsidiary Ticketmaster, alleging monopolization and anticompetitive practices in the live entertainment industry. |
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