In many instances when we receive a phone call from a client (or prospective client) seeking to retain our services in a new matter, we can be sure the phone call will involve an interesting story. However, when the client makes that phone call while the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") is in the process of executing a search warrant on the client’s premises, you can be sure that the story is going to be a bit more interesting than usual.
Such was the case when we received a phone call from a large European chemical company, a long-time client of our partners Dennis P. Orr and Thomas M. Mueller, in May of 1998. At the time we received the call, the FBI was in the process of executing a search warrant at the offices of the group’s principal American unit in New Jersey. The search warrant related to an alleged conspiracy to fix the prices of vitamin products, notably niacin (Vitamin B3) and biotin (Vitamin H). The United States Department of Justice ("DOJ") believed that the
