Overview
In an opinion Monday, the Second Circuit reversed Judge Buchwald's dismissal of antitrust claims based on the alleged manipulation of LIBOR (covered here). Judge Buchwald ruled that the process of establishing LIBOR was a "cooperative" endeavor that, even if manipulated, would not cause harm to competition for purposes of the antitrust laws. The Second Circuit disagreed:
The district court’s contrary conclusion rested in part on the syllogism that since the LIBOR‐setting process was a “cooperative endeavor,” there could be no anticompetitive harm. But appellants claim violation (and injury in the form of higher prices) flowing from the corruption of the rate‐setting process, which (allegedly) turned a process in which the Banks jointly participated into conspiracy. “[T]he machinery employed by a combination for price‐fixing is immaterial.”Our previous coverage of the LIBOR cases is here.
