Antitrust Division Secures Guilty Plea In First Monopolization Prosecution In Almost Fifty Years

Corporations and c-suite executives should take note of a potentially chilling development this Halloween: the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division secured a guilty plea on October 31, 2022, in its first criminal monopolization prosecution since 1977. According to a DOJ statement, the Antitrust Division brought a single-count charge under Section 2 of the Sherman Act against the president of a paving and asphalt contractor based in Billings, Montana on September 19, 2022.¹ The charge alleged that Nathan Nephi Zito of Z&Z Asphalt attempted to monopolize the highway crack-sealing services market in Montana and Wyoming in January 2020 by soliciting a "strategic partnership" to allocate markets with a competitor. In this proposed partnership, Z&Z Asphalt would claim business in Montana and Wyoming, and its competitor would claim South Dakota and Nebraska. Zito also offered the competitor $100,000 in additional compensation, and proposed that they enter into a sham