In their article in the October 2022 issue of Antitrust Report, Analysis Group authors explore differences in the roles of economic experts in antitrust criminal litigation under the per se standard – compared to civil litigation under the rule-of-reason standard – involving allegations of price-fixing, bid rigging, or market allocation. After noting an increase in antitrust criminal enforcement activity, the authors – Manager Solvejg Wewel; Managing Principal Samuel Weglein; Vice Presidents David Toniatti and David Smith; and Principal Chris Feige – examine the expert discovery process in criminal litigation relative to civil litigation. Using examples from three recent price-fixing cases – US v. Richard Usher, et al.; US v. Akshay Aiyer; and US v. Christopher Lischewski – they explore the ways in which economic experts’ work impacted, for example, the development of legal strategy.
The authors then address the potential contributions of economic experts – in particular, providing context, presenting evidence of certain economic conduct, and opening the door to alternative explanations for evidence – to discovery, even in criminal antitrust matters in which the per se standard, rather than the rule-of-reason standard, is applied. They conclude by acknowledging the disparate nature of pre-trial rulings and the different requirements for presentation of economic analyses in the two types of cases.
Associated People
Chris Feige
Mr. Feige specializes in the areas of finance, securities, and financial markets. He has worked on and managed a range of securities and valuation projects in the UK and Europe. Mr. Feige has been appointed as expert in Dutch court to provide valuation and securities claims reports in support of Steinhoff’s global securities settlement, and gave evidence in the Dutch Enterprise Chamber regarding the valuation of Getir. He has also managed teams evaluating shareholder reliance and disclosure materiality and estimating counterfactual share prices in UK Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) Section 90A litigation matters. Mr. Feige has supported experts analyzing the volume of false and spam accounts on Twitter, Twitter’s information security infrastructure, Twitter’s data privacy and compliance with a US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) consent decree, and share price and valuation issues on behalf of Twitter in Twitter v. Musk in which Elon Musk eventually purchased Twitter at his initial offer price. In cases involving alleged market manipulation in the foreign exchange (FX) and IBOR markets, he has analyzed trade data and evaluated alleged manipulation strategies. Mr. Feige worked on USA v. Richard Usher, et al., and the Foreign Exchange Class Antitrust Litigation, analyzing FX trade and chat data, as well as competition issues; preparing experts for testimony at trial; and providing data analyses and consulting support to counsel throughout the projects. He has also worked on a range of international arbitration cases, including valuation, damages, and competition analyses. In addition, he has developed complex valuation models, including discounted cash flow models, and analyzed asset-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, and other securitized products in support of expert testimony in a number of bankruptcy and damages matters. Mr. Feige has also worked on a number of international arbitrations valuing defaulted sovereign debt, expropriated oil fields, and retail operations. His work has been published in several industry journals.