A federal prosecutor told House lawmakers on Wednesday that Attorney General William Barr ordered antitrust staffers to investigate 10 proposed mergers in the cannabis sector because of his personal dislike of the industry.
“While these were nominally antitrust investigations, and used antitrust investigative authorities, they were not bona fide antitrust investigations,” said Elias. “Nonetheless, they accounted for 29% of the Antitrust Division’s full-review merger investigations in Fiscal Year 2019.” Elias explained that the antitrust division’s manual instructs staffers to first look at market share as an indicator of whether a deal needs to get routine clearance or be subjected to the fullest review, by issuing what is called a “Second Request” subpoena. Typically, a company would need at least double-digit market share to merit that subpoena, which can lead to demands for hundreds of thousands or even millions of documents.
The companies were then asked to provide 1.3 million documents from the files of 40 employees. The investigation then found that the markets were indeed “unconcentrated” and was closed without enforcement action. By then, however, the deal had collapsed with MedMen citing delays in obtaining regulatory approval. The company’s stock price had lost about a third of its value while the investigation was being conducted.
When prosecutors brought their concerns to the head of the Antitrust Division, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, he responded by saying the investigations were motivated “by the fact that the cannabis industry is unpopular ‘on the fifth floor,’” a reference to Barr’s offices in the DOJ headquarters building.
Someone needs to give this man a joint
All probes were completed 2019 per the article.
The Cardinal Richelieu of our time.
lol Nice!
He has to go
We need some antitrust for big tech.
I dont know if this has anything to do with him 'disliking the industry. This has been a concern of small operators in this industry since day one. Many established businesses have been buying up market share.
Another reason not to like this dick
esaagar
Because Wall Street hasn't figured out how to get a monopoly on the industry yet.
To much money in arresting, and asset forfeiture. Remember Barr in the top cop. so he's just another corrupt thug
The industry has not even gotten started yet why bother with antitrust now. So many other companies to go after that have been around for a long time.
This man is a traitor. We have a traitor in the WH as well.
I FULLY support AG Barr And I'm about to go outside and smoke a yuuuuuuge bowl So try again MarketWatch. I smoke often too, so get bent.
Slip him an edible 👀
...or they deal in a schedule 1 drug. It’s still against federal law 😂, of course the AG of the U.S. is going to have issues with it.