Five companies lose board members in DOJ antitrust sweep

Seven members of corporate boards resigned after the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) flagged their situations as potential violations of the Clayton Act.

Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, head of the Antitrust Division, put companies on notice during a speech delivered in April that he intended to begin ramping up enforcement of Section 8 of the Clayton Act, which prohibits directors and officers from sitting on boards of competing businesses.

The agency warned again in a press release Wednesday the seven resignations were just the first action “in a broader review of potentially unlawful interlocking directorates.”