On July 8, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division announced the creation of a new Whistleblower Rewards program. This program will allow the Antitrust Division to offer rewards to individuals who report antitrust crimes. Individuals may qualify for monetary rewards of up to 30% of any criminal fines or recoveries exceeding $1 million for violations of law affecting the Postal Service, its revenues, or its property.

The nexus to the USPS need not be “material or significant,” and conduct generally affecting the mail or operations of the USPS is likely to qualify.

What is an antitrust crime?

Certain types of joint conduct (between two or more competitors) are prohibited under Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Prohibited acts include:

• Price-fixing. Competitors may not agree with their rivals to set prices of goods or services they sell. Agreeing to fix prices is prohibited under the Sherman Act.
• Output restrictions. Competitors may not agree to restrict output of goods or services they sell. For example, widget manufacturers that collectively produce 100,000 widgets per year may not agree to only produce 50,000 in the following year. Joint output restrictions have the effect of raising prices and are prohibited under the antitrust laws.
• Bid-rigging. In a bid-rigging conspiracy, competitors agree on who will submit a winning bid for a contract in a competitive bidding process, which prevents price competition and raises prices.
• Market and customer allocation schemes. Competitors may not agree to divide a geographic market. For example, if two competitors decide to sell on opposite sides of the Mississippi River, and not to compete in each other’s territory, this is illegal under the antitrust laws. Similarly, it is illegal for competitors to agree on which customers they will sell to or purchase from, regardless of where they are located geographically.

Additionally, certain types of single-firm conduct are prohibited under Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. This includes monopolization by a single firm – where there is anticompetitive conduct, a specific intent to monopolize, and a dangerous probability of achieving a monopoly. However, criminal antitrust cases prosecutions by the DOJ involving joint conduct under Section 1 of the Sherman Act are prosecuted significantly more frequently than those involving single-firm conduct.

Payment of a reward is limited to individuals with original, non-public information not already known to the Antitrust Division. Individuals who originated or led the criminal conduct are not eligible to participate, nor are law enforcement personnel or their relatives.

Reach Out

If you believe you have knowledge of an antitrust crime, reach out to the experienced antitrust attorneys at Lowey Dannenberg, P.C. to review your claim at antitrustwhistleblower@lowey.com.