Comcast has been using every trick in the book to drum up approval for their pending merger with Time Warner Cable. They’re spending big on lobbyists, filling campaign coffers, relying on revolving doors, and strategically funding feel-good initiatives. But those are just icing on the cake. What really gives them confidence in their merger plan? The buddy-buddy relationship they’ve developed with regulators. [More]
department of justice
Dinners And Parties: Here’s Why Comcast Isn’t Worried About Getting The TWC Merger Approved
By 7.3.14
Regulators: SunTrust Mortgage Must Provide $540M In Relief To Consumers Wronged By Shady Practices
By 6.17.14
Homeowners underwater with their mortgages and those who lost their homes to foreclosure could be seeing a bit of relief now that several federal agencies and state attorneys generals have filed an order requiring SunTrust Mortgage, Inc. to provide restitution for servicing wrongs. [More]
Here’s Why the Justice Dept. Should Block the Comcast and Time Warner Cable Merger
By 5.18.14
Comcast and Time Warner Cable have done their parade in front of the House and Senate to state their case publicly for why they should be allowed to merger into a truly massive mega-company. But now, it’s time for the investigation that really matters, as regulators at the FCC and the Department of Justice start looking into whether or not this deal is good for the public interest… or violates antitrust law. [More]
Uncle Sam, Pre-Marital Counselor: The Approval Process Ahead For Comcast And TWC
By 2.25.14
The proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, as it currently stands, looks like it could be a good move for the businesses and a bad move for consumers. But right now it’s still just that: a proposed merger. In order for this corporate marriage to move forward, federal regulators first have to approve the union–and that’s where it gets tricky. [More]
Federal Government Releases Guidelines For Banks To Deal With Marijuana Businesses
By 2.14.14
One of the biggest worries marijuana businesses have in states like Colorado and Washington, where recreational use is now legal, was that they’d be shut out of financial institutions and be stuck with cash-only transactions. That worry is now likely allayed today as the federal government has given the go ahead for banks to offer services to the legal marijuana industry, as it said it would earlier this year. [More]
U.S. Proposes Deal To Allow The American Airlines-US Airways Marriage To Finally Happen
By 11.12.13
An expensive wedding is by no means an unusual event these days, and when it comes to major airlines trying to get hitched, it’s no different. Just last week the Department of Justice was rumored to have a list of things it wanted the airlines to sell off if they wanted to walk down the aisle and now there’s a reported price for that wedded bliss. [More]
Past Statements About Moneymaking Mergers Returning To Bite Airline Execs In The Behind
By 8.14.13
It appears that the Department of Justice has been doing its research and is pulling a bit of a “Remember when you said that thing about mergers hiking airline fares?” in its lawsuit seeking to block them merger of American Airlines and US Airways. Included in the 56-page lawsuit filed yesterday are quotes from internal emails as well as comments made in public by the airlines’ top executives touting the fact that past mergers have led to raised fares and more fees passengers have no choice but to pay. [More]
DOJ Stands Up At Wedding Of American Airlines & US Airways Yelling “I Object!”
By 8.13.13
It’s been a long wait for lovebirds American Airlines and US Airways, and we’re basically at the point where the betrothed couple is standing up in front of friends and family, waiting to see if anyone will heed the call of the officiant asking if there’s any reason these two shouldn’t be wed. Enter the United States Justice Department, arriving at the ceremony in a way more timely manner than [SPOILER ALERT] Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate but still just as opposed to the nuptials. [More]
DOJ Raises A Glass To Anheuser-Busch With Approval Of Grupo-Modelo Merger
By 4.19.13
A few weeks back it seemed likely that the Department of Justice would let loose a little and allow Anheuser-Busch InBev to merge with Grupo-Modelo, and now it’s official. The DOJ announced today that it had approved the merger after a settlement soothed its fears over anti-competitiveness. Or maybe Anheuser just kept plying it s new BFF with drinks until it agreed.* [More]
Consumer Advocates To Senators: American Airlines & US Airways Merger Would Hurt Fliers
By 3.19.13
Today American Airlines and its betrothed, US Airways had to defend their proposed merger in front of a Senate hearing and several consumer advocates. Citing higher fares, reduced service to smaller communities in the U.S. and a loss of competition among carriers, opponents of the impending nuptials testified at a Judiciary Committee hearing that such a joint venture would hurt consumers. [More]
Scammers Have Servicemembers In Their Sights: The DOJ Says It’s Time To Fight Back
By 3.8.13
Like all consumers, servicemembers of the United States can fall under the sway of scammers seeking to take ’em for all they’ve got. But due to their specific circumstances they’re often the focus of a wide range of fraudulent businesses and other predatory practices. [More]
Penguin Group Reaches Settlement With Justice Department Over E-Book Pricing
By 12.19.12
The Justice Department is close to wrapping up one more piece of the e-book pricing dispute that’s been going on for months, announcing today it had reached a settlement with Pearson Penguin Group. The government had alleged that Penguin, four other publishers and Apple had been in cahoots to unfairly fix e-book prixes. [More]
Report: BP Will Be Hit With Record Fine In The Billions Over Deepwater Horizon Spill
By 11.15.12
Things have got to be tense over at BP right now, as reports are whirling here there and everywhere that the company is likely going to shell out billions of dollars to pay a criminal penalty related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s also reportedly going to plead guilty to criminal misconduct as part of the plea deal it’s reached with the Department of Justice. [More]
Feds Ask Appeals Court To Reconsider Requiring Graphic Warnings On Cigarette Packaging
By 10.9.12
Big Tobacco came away with a win in August when a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that cigarette packaging shouldn’t be required to feature graphic health warnings about the dangers of smoking. But the Food and Drug Administration seems to be on a team with the Justice Department, as the latter agency is asking for a full appeals court to reconsider that idea. [More]
DOJ Reportedly Investigating Cable Companies For Squashing Online Competition
By 6.13.12
The Justice Department is reportedly engaged in an anti-trust investigation into many areas where the cable TV industry might be acting inappropriately to try and quell competition from online video. Many consumers want to pick and choose what they watch, using services like Hulu and Netflix, whereas cable companies would like them to continue to pay for bundles of TV channels, even some they might not watch. [More]
Full Tilt Poker Says It Isn't A Ponzi Scheme
By 9.22.11
Responding to allegations from the U.S. Department of Justice that Full Tilt Poker proprietors operated a global Ponzi scheme, attorneys of the online poker emporium responded with the legal equivalent of “nu-uh!” [More]
US Accuses Full Tilt Poker Of Being Global Ponzi Scheme
By 9.21.11
Looks like Full Tilt Poker just went bust. The Department of Justice has accused the site’s proprietors of operating a “global Ponzi scheme” in which the owners got paid with money they told players was being safely held. [More]
Department Of Justice, Four States File Fraud Suit Against For-Profit College Company
By 8.9.11
The for-profit college industry has earned a reputation for shady methods of operation, such as peddling flimsy academic credentials for high prices and minimal effort in the classroom, and now the government is taking one of the largest corporations in the industry to court. [More]
