DOJ Obtains First Monopolization Conviction in Decades

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On October 31, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) announced that the president of a Montana paving and asphalt contractor, Nathan Nephi Zito, had pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to monopolize the highway crack-sealing services markets in Montana and Wyoming.¹ The guilty plea marks the DOJ’s first criminal prosecution under Section 2 of the Sherman Act since the late 1970s, when the DOJ brought a monopolization charge over an alleged conspiracy between Braniff Airlines and Texas International Airlines.² While this development warrants monitoring, both the Zito case and the Braniff case had unique facts that may make this prosecution the exception, not the rule…