DOJ Secures Guilty Plea For Attempted Monopolization

On October 31, the Department of Justice (DOJ) fulfilled its recent promise to "vigorously enforce Section 2 of the Sherman Act" by securing the first guilty plea in a criminal monopolization case since the 1970s. Nathan Zito, the president of a Montana-based paving and asphalt company, admitted to one count of attempted monopolization of the market for highway crack-sealing services in Montana and Wyoming.¹ According to the charging document, Zito solicited his company's sole competitor in the highway crack-sealing services market and offered to form a "strategic partnership." Under the terms of this partnership, the two competitors would divide the territory that they covered—with Zito's company being allocated Montana and Wyoming—and stop bidding against the other for projects outside their respective geographic regions. To sweeten the deal, Zito offered his competitor $100,000 to compensate it for business opportunities lost due to this market allocation scheme.