Introduction
Cartels have been described as "theft by well-dressed
thieves".1 This reference perhaps brings to mind
images of police raids, individuals being escorted away in
handcuffs and judges handing down jail time. Indeed, if cartels are
clearly so harmful – and perpetrated by "thieves"
– we would expect the punishment should fit the crime.
Looking at cartel enforcement, we have observed two trends
across our global practice in recent years: first, the level of
fines imposed on companies has increased continuously; second, more
and more jurisdictions are criminalising cartel behaviour by
individuals. This has implications not only for individuals –
who face a real threat of incarceration and personal fines –
but also for companies, both in terms of their options for
responding to investigations and in ensuring their compliance
policies are fit for purpose. In this article we focus on the
second trend and show not only that the criminal cartel offence can
now
