Companies of all sizes, and particularly those in the healthcare and technology markets, should take potential criminal liability into account when making antitrust risk assessments.
The Department of Justice's Antitrust Division (DOJ) obtained its first conviction in a criminal antitrust labor market trial on April 14, 2025. In United States v. Lopez, a federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada returned a guilty verdict against Eduardo Lopez, a home healthcare agency (HHA) executive, for (1) participating in a three-year conspiracy to fix wages for home healthcare nurses, and (2) defrauding the buyer of his HHA by failing to disclose the DOJ's criminal antitrust investigation.
After years of attempts, this marks the first-ever criminal conviction for a wage-fixing conspiracy under the Sherman Act since the DOJ's highly publicized campaign to pursue wage-fixing and no-poach agreements as criminal offenses. In 2022 and 2023, the DOJ suffered trial losses in United States v. Jindal and United States v. DaVita, but secured a "win" — in the form of a guilty plea — in another District of Nevada prosecution, United States v. Hee. In Hee,the DOJ charged a company and its regional manager for their role in a conspiracy to eliminate competition for the services of nurses by agreeing with a competitor not to raise the wages of their employee nurses and not to recruit one another's nurses.
As the DOJ's last case in its "initial wave" of criminal prosecutions targeting labor market conduct, Lopez provides a framework for this DOJ to approach criminal antitrust labor enforcement going forward and indicates the new leadership will continue to enforce antitrust laws as they relate to employees.
Key Facts
In March 2023, Lopez was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with one count of conspiracy to fix the wages of nurses who provided home healthcare services, in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1, and five counts of wire fraud alleging that Lopez learned of the criminal investigation in 2019, but concealed it from the buyer of his company when it sold for $10 million in 2021. The DOJ alleged that competing HHAs agreed to maintain a certain hourly rate of pay, and that executives of the HHAs discussed their agreed rates for hiring nurses at their facilities. According to the DOJ, this agreement affected the wages of hundreds of Las Vegas registered nurses and licensed practical nurses who provide care to patients in their homes.
Ultimately, the jury convicted Lopez on all counts. Lopez faces up to 10 years in prison for the Sherman Act charge and 20 years for each count of wire fraud. Lopez is also subject to a monetary fine of up to $1 million for the Sherman Act violation and a criminal forfeiture of at least $12.5 million. Sentencing is set for July 14, 2025.
Key Takeaways
After the jury's verdict, the Assistant Attorney General Abigal A. Slater stated that "wage-fixing agreements are nakedly unlawful attempts at unjustly profiting off American workers," and that the verdict sends a "clear message with antitrust crimes: the agreement is the crime." She also confirmed that this DOJ would prosecute those who seek to "unjustly profit off their employees, and that "under President Trump's leadership, [employees] will be protected." In other words, the DOJ is committed to robust criminal antitrust enforcement and will continue bringing labor market prosecutions.
DOJ's position aligns with Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson's February 2025 memorandum regarding the creation of a labor market task force to investigate and prosecute deceptive, unfair, or anticompetitive labor market conduct, and the DOJ and FTC's joint antitrust guidance from January 2025. Antitrust enforcement in the labor markets will continue to be an enforcement priority for the federal government, and should be a compliance priority for all employers.
In light of Lopez and the Government's recent statements, companies of all sizes, and particularly those in the healthcare and technology markets, should take potential criminal liability into account when making antitrust risk assessments — especially when considering potential transactions and agreements with competitors in the marketplace.
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