Carsten M. Reichel

Carsten has deep experience in government investigations of corporations and individuals for anticompetitive conduct – such as price fixing, bid rigging, and monopolization – and other white-collar offenses.

As a federal prosecutor, Carsten's work spanned many of the largest cross-border cartel matters of the past twenty years, including those involving maritime shipping, auto parts, air cargo, and foreign currency exchange. He also led investigations of domestic cartels, including in the generic pharmaceutical industry (which resulted in the largest-ever fines imposed for domestic price fixing) and those involving bid rigging, procurement violations, and related offenses, such as bribery, fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. He negotiated and oversaw the first-ever corporate antitrust compliance monitor imposed pursuant to an Antitrust Division plea agreement and worked extensively with numerous corporate applicants to the Antitrust Division's Leniency Program. Carsten was integral to the creation and expansion of the DOJ-led interagency Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF) initiative to detect and deter criminal cartel activity impacting public procurements, including the PCSF's international expansion and collaboration with numerous foreign competition authorities.

Carsten is a leading practitioner in cartel investigations and trained hundreds of federal law enforcement agents on the investigation of procurement fraud at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. He also has worked with numerous competition enforcement agencies -- including those in Japan, Korea, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, COMESA, and throughout Europe – to advise and train on cartel investigation practices and policies and to facilitate international cooperation in cartel enforcement.

He also worked on key competition policy issues such as the implementation of the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act (CAARA) at the Department of Labor and competition compliance in multi-agency efforts to implement the Defense Production Act responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

From 2017-18, Carsten served as Special Assistant United States Attorney for the United States Attorney's Office in the District of Maryland, where he investigated and prosecuted bank fraud, identity theft, and violent crimes.

He has litigated federal jury trials, sentencing issues, and evidentiary disputes and has extensive experience practicing before federal grand juries.

Before joining the DOJ, Carsten worked at an international law firm, where he defended clients in both criminal and civil antitrust investigations and private civil litigation, including representing the industry leader in DOJ's DRAM price-fixing investigation.

Legal 500 United States

• Recommended, Cartel (2024)
• Recommended, Antitrust: Civil Litigation/Class Action: Defense (2023-2024)

Additional Awards

• Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, Assistant Attorney General Awards for:
  • COVID-19 antitrust advising efforts
  • Generic pharmaceuticals corporate resolutions
  • Auto parts cartel prosecution
  • Deep-sea ocean shipping cartel prosecution
  • Southeastern real estate foreclosure auctions prosecution
  • Foreign currency exchange prosecution
• Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency Award for Excellence, Airlines Price-fixing

• Co-Author, "Wiretap Use In Cartel Probes Likely To Remain An Exception," Law 360, June 13, 2024
• Co-Author, "Algorithmic Price Fixing - The DOJ Shares its View," American Bar Association, March 28, 2024
• Contributor/Editor, Antitrust Grand Jury Investigations Handbook, 4th ed. (2023), American Bar Association, Antitrust Law Section
• Contributor/Editor, Antitrust Cartel Leniency and Sentencing Handbook (2023), American Bar Association, Antitrust Law Section 
• "A Look at Competition Enforcers’ 2026 World Cup Game Plan," Law360, October 2023
• "Labor Pains: Taking Stock of Criminal Antitrust Enforcement Against Wage-Fixing and No-Poach Agreements," ABA Criminal Justice, White-Collar Crime Symposium, Summer 2023
• "Non-Competes in the Health Care Industry: Where Do Things Stand?" American Health Law Association Briefing, August 2023
• "FTC's Criminal Liaison Unit Enhances Merger Risks," Law360, May 2023
• "The US Approach to Cartel Enforcement in Public Procurements," Competition Policy International, February 2023
• "DOJ Eliminates Health Care ‘Antitrust Safety Zones'," American Health Law Association Weekly, February 2023
• "Axing Health-Care Antitrust Safety Zones Will Impact Transactions," Bloomberg Law, February 2023
• "The Wait is Over: DOJ Resurrects Section 2 Criminal Charges," Global Competition Review, November 2022
• "Expect More DOJ Labor Market Enforcement, Despite Losses," Law360, August 2022
• 2022 Antitrust Americas DOJ Update, Global Competition Review, October 2021

• Panelist, "Corporate Counsel Update," American Bar Association Antitrust Section, January 2024
• Panelist, "Anti-ESG: Practical Steps to Navigate the Crosshairs," 2023 Practical ESG Conference, September 2023
• Corporate Counsel Update, American Bar Association Antitrust Section, June 2023
• Cartel and Criminal Practice Update, American Bar Association Antitrust Section, November 2022

As a government practitioner: 

• Instructor, Procurement Fraud Intensive Training Program, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Glynco, Georgia, 2012-2022
• "Detecting Collusion in Public Procurement," United States Trade and Development Agency, Global Procurement Initiative, April 2022
• "Detecting and Investigating Bid-Rigging in Public Procurement," International Law Enforcement Academy, Gaborone, Botswana, February 2022
• "Workshop on Cartel Investigation," COMESA Competition Commission, February 2022
• Panelist, “Advocating Public Procurers: New Issues, New Principles," International Competition Network, Advocacy Working Group Annual Workshop, February 2022
• "Implementing the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act," Occupational Safety and Health Administration, January 2022

• Interviewed, "Prepare for more LatAm cross-border antitrust enforcement" Latin Lawyer, October 31, 2024
• "Health-Care Collusion Task Force Sets Stage for DOJ Enforcement," Bloomberg Law, June 13, 2024
• "What's Next For Labor Enforcement After DOJ Punts Case?" Law360, November 27, 2023
• "Dropped no-poach case proves DOJ rethinking approach, ex-enforcers say," Global Competition Review, November 16, 2023
• "A Per Se Setback For DOJ's No-Poach Prosecutions," Law360, May 04, 2023
• "DOJ's Latest, Biggest No-Poach Trial Thrown Out," Law360, April 28, 2023
• "US DOJ’s no-poach enforcement suffers major setback with judge acquitting six defendants mid-trial," MLEX, April 28, 2023
• "US DOJ loses another criminal no-poach case," Global Competition Review, April 28, 2023
• "Aerospace managers acquitted in labor-related antitrust prosecution," Reuters, April 28, 2023
• "Criminal Section 2 case ends with probation for highway contractor," Global Competition Review, March 31, 2023
• "Nevada home health exec indicted in DOJ’s wage-fixing probe," Global Competition Review, March 17, 2023
• "FTC Brings Charges Over Noncompete Clauses," Society for Human Resources Managers, March 14, 2023
• "HR Can Help Prevent Misappropriation of Trade Secrets," Society for Human Resources Managers, February 12, 2023
• "DOJ "properly defined" hub-and-spoke no-poach market, court rules," Global Competition Review, December 6, 2022
• "DOJ revives criminal Section 2 enforcement with guilty plea," Global Competition Review, November 1, 2022
• "DOJ Nabs Criminal Monopolization Plea From Executive," Law360, October 31, 2022
• "Why DOJ's Chicken Price-Fixing Probe Fizzled Out," Law360, October 19, 2022
• "DOJ fails to secure any chicken convictions," Global Competition Review, October 18, 2022
• "Pilgrim's Ex-Execs’ Charges Dropped in End to DOJ Chicken Probe," Bloomberg Law, October 17, 2022