Barr has overridden him on at least one key decision — an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission to divide their responsibility for probes into the tech industry.
In May, Delrahim and FTC Chairman Joe Simons agreed to divvy up their inquiries into the major tech companies, with the Justice Department opening a probe into Google and the commission focusing on Facebook. (Combined, the two companies claim most of the U.S. market for digital advertising.) The arrangement also called for DOJ to look into Apple, which has faced accusations of delisting rival app-makers for its iPhone and iPad, while the FTC would take on Amazon, the subject of complaints over its pricing and its treatment of third-party sellers.
But two months later, DOJ reneged by announcing an antitrust review of all the major internet companies. The new review pointedly included “social media and some retail services online” as areas the agency intended to investigate — a description that would include Facebook and Amazon.
The department has not spelled out what outcomes it will seek from any of the Big Tech probes, including whether it would seek the drastic remedy of going to court to try to break up the companies. The Justice Department would also have authority to investigate potential fraudulent advertising claims, a plague that a U.K. Parliament report estimated last year costs advertisers between $6.5 billion and $16.4 billion annually. Amazon has also faced criticism for sales of counterfeit goods on its platform, an issue that recently prompted the Department of Homeland Security to say it would work with DOJ to seek fines or other penalties.
In August, Barr elevated a counsel to Delrahim, Lauren Willard, to his office to help coordinate the tech review and keep him up-to-date on progress. Around that time, Deputy Attorney General Rosen began interviewing candidates for an antitrust counsel in his own office. Though not as accomplished as Barr, Rosen also has experience in antitrust, having represented the browser developer Netscape in its complaint against Microsoft in the late 2000s.
Rosen eventually settled on Shores, a litigator with the law firm Shearman & Sterling, who joined the DAG’s office in October to monitor the probe.
At the end of January, the Justice Department announced that Okuliar, a litigator from the law firm Orrick who had previously served at both the FTC and DOJ, would join the Antitrust Division. Within days, Delrahim publicly acknowledged that he is now recused on the DOJ’s Google probe because of his former work for the company. The agency is also considering whether to recuse him on other aspects of the tech review, he said.
That leaves Okuliar as the point person for the tech probes within the Antitrust Division, helping manage day-to-day questions from the more than 30 lawyers assigned to work on the cases along with Shores. They are also highly involved in the discussions with state attorneys general who have opened parallel probes into Google and Facebook. A meeting at DOJ in February with the attorneys general of Texas, Nebraska and Utah was organized in part to allow them to meet Shores and Okuliar, according to people who attended.
In speeches in December, Barr said he hopes to have the tech platform probes wrapped up by the end of this year.
At the very least, Delrahim is expected to remain at DOJ through May, when the U.S. will host the International Competition Network, an annual gathering of competition enforcers from around the world. The U.S. was a founding member of ICN, along with the European Union and 12 other jurisdictions. Today, the group is made of 126 jurisdictions, including every major country except China.
For the first time, the U.S. will play host for the gathering in Los Angeles — Delrahim’s hometown.
Source: politico.com
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