January 26, 2024
The FTC Ain’t Nothin to Mess With
The FTC has won its lawsuit against Martin Shkreli, the pharmaceutical executive infamous for jacking up the price of the antiparasitic drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 overnight in 2015 and later using his ill-gotten fortune to buy an exclusive Wu-Tang Clan album for $2 million. Shkreli is the quintessential corporate ghoul, having already racked up convictions for securities fraud—which resulted in an indefinite ban from the securities industries—and failure to pay $1.26 million in New York state taxes. Now, his price gouging has finally caught up with him, as the FTC successfully argued that he spearheaded an anti-competitive scheme to monopolize the drug. The presiding judge found Shkreli’s conduct to be “egregious, deliberate, repetitive, long-running, and ultimately dangerous,” issuing a $64.6 million fine and imposing a lifetime ban from the pharmaceutical industry.
January 26, 2024 | The American Prospect
Corporate Self-Oversight
Accounting’s technical jargon makes the industry obscure to most Americans. It’s likely your next-door neighbor has no idea of the PCAOB’s activities, its responsibility to protect investors, or its history of negligence. That’s expected, but chair Williams is now working to turn the ship around to fix the shortcomings of one of America’s most consequential oligopolies, and it will improve the economic lives of an unaware public.
December 15, 2023
Bidenomics Needs A Corporate Crackdown On Rent-Gougers
The RealPage scandal gives Biden a real opportunity to rally working-class support for his reelection campaign.
December 13, 2023 | RDP Newsletter
Antitrust Roundup: Revolver Strikes Back, March-In Rights & Other News
While former FTC commissioner Noah Phillips defends private equity from antitrust lawsuits, the media attacks current Chair Lina Khan for … doing her job.
December 05, 2023
Advocacy Groups Urge Small Businesses To Cease Partnerships With Monopolies
The Washington Post featured a letter sent by the Revolving Door Project and 12 other advocacy groups urging the SBA to cease its partnerships with monopolies for NSBW 2024.
November 15, 2023 | RDP Newsletter
We Can’t Let Budget Negotiations Make A Punching Bag of Agency Capacity
As negotiations to prevent a government shutdown heat up once again, Democratic and Republican Representatives in the House are poised to make a play on agency resources.
October 26, 2023
RELEASE: Watchdog Group Requests Communications Between DOJ Officials And Google Defender Paul Weiss
Following news coverage that Yelp and the News/Media Alliance filed an unsuccessful motion to take BigLaw firm Paul Weiss off Google’s defense team in the adtech antitrust case brought by the DOJ, the Revolving Door Project submitted a Freedom of Information Act Request for communications between Paul Weiss and key Department of Justice officials. The American Prospect featured the request in their coverage of Google’s attempts to remove DOJ Antitrust Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter from the case, as well as Paul Weiss’ potential conflicts.
October 16, 2023
Letter To Judge Freeman Calling For Recusal
On October 16, the Revolving Door Project sent a letter to Judge Beth Labson Freeman calling for her recusal in NetChoice, LLC v. Bonta. Judge Freeman granted a preliminary injunction to prevent California from enforcing the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADCA), which regulates platforms that target content to children.
October 13, 2023
Revolving Door Project Sends Letter To Rep. Correa On Big Tech Conflicts Of Interest
On Thursday, October 12, the HuffPost reported on the Revolving Door Project’s letter to Ranking Member of the House Antitrust Subcommittee Lou Correa.
October 13, 2023
RELEASE: JUDGE INVESTED IN BIG TECH SHOULD NOT DECIDE ON CONSTITUTIONALITY OF LAW THAT BIG TECH LOBBIED AGAINST
August 18, 2023
Kalimah Muhammad Vishal Shankar
Hackwatch Anti-MonopolyDepartment of JusticeFTCHack WatchHousingMedia Accountability
Memo to the Media: Stop Quoting RealPage
A company under federal antitrust investigation for helping landlords jack up rents is not a reliable or independent source.
August 02, 2023 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter
Following Failed Hearing, Jim Jordan And Republicans Try New Tacks To Take Down Khan and Kanter
Two weeks ago, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan entered a House Judiciary Committee hearing with a target on her back. In the leadup to the hearing, Republicans readied their trumped-up attacks against Khan and the agency she leads: a barely relevant memo from a conflicted ethics officer, a list of unfounded grievances from bitter former Commissioner Christine Wilson, and absurd defenses of Elon Musk’s lazy privacy practices at Twitter. But Khan emerged unscathed, and by the end, the Republicans had lost all their fire.
July 17, 2023
Lina Khan Unscathed By Conflicted Ethics Officer and Pro-Monopoly Republicans
Rep Jim Jordan and company had already been eyeing Khan for an investigation because she had the audacity to enforce a consent decree that Twitter violated under Elon Musk’s leadership. Then, they eagerly seized on last month’s (conveniently timed) reporting from Bloomberg which published a previously unseen memo from an FTC ethics official and accused Chair Khan of ignoring the official’s recommendation. With that backdrop, the Republicans seemed poised to strike while the iron was hot, a culmination of their years-long project to undermine Khan’s leadership and reputation. The result was … much different. Thanks to some sleuthing on our part and the bipartisan support for taking on tech monopolies, yesterday’s hearing was less a damning inquisition and more a victory lap for Khan’s rejuvenation of the FTC.
July 17, 2023 | The American Prospect
The Climate Denialist Think Tank That Might Produce The Next FTC Commissioner
It turns out that radical ideology IS allowed at the FTC.