Sanctions for Violating Section 1 of the Sherman Act

Summary

This practice note describes the sanctions corporate and individual defendants may face in criminal prosecutions and civil litigation for violations of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. These potential sanctions may include financial penalties and imprisonment. With financial penalties for criminal violations, the government calculates the fines based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (the Guidelines), which are based on the volume of affected commerce. These calculations are complicated and lead to many disputes, including the appropriate method to calculate the volume of affected commerce.