The new PATRIOT amendments, signed into law this week, apparently include some very quietly inserted provisions that allow the Justice Department to use wiretaps and bugs in suspected anti-trust cases, no doubt in response to growing concern over the many suspected terrorists moonlighting as CFOs and board members of large American companies.
Although there’s debate amongst antitrust legal experts about the willingness of judges to grant warrants for electronic surveillance in civil antitrust cases, there should be great concern that the availability of such warrants might prove a tempting way for prosecutors to ramp up charges against suspected offenders from civil to criminal. Concerns about the possible compromise of internal communications and trade secrets unrelated to antitrust investigations have also arisen as a result of the new provisions.
--Brooke Oberwetter
