Google on Thursday made allegations of bias against the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) top antitrust prosecutor in one of the ongoing antitrust cases the tech giant faces.
Google has sought information regarding the previous work and advocacy of Jonathan Kanter, the U.S. assistant attorney general for antitrust, claiming that his alleged bias against the company violates Google’s right to a neutral prosecutor.
Google claims the alleged bias “has shaped and infected this entire proceeding.”
The court filing comes days before the tech giant’s first federal antitrust trial was scheduled to begin. The filing pertains to the DOJ’s case against Google’s dominance in the ad tech market, which was initiated under the Biden administration in January.
The DOJ is seeking at least $300 million in damages on behalf of eight federal agencies. Google argues that the DOJ’s “initial outreach to these federal agencies did not begin in earnest until just weeks before it filed its complaint.” The tech giant has therefore questioned the agency’s motivation for its lawsuit.
“The federal agencies did not ask DOJ to file a complaint on their behalf; nor did they understand that they would be participating in this litigation until sometime after the complaint was filed,” Google said in the filing. “These facts demonstrate that the federal agencies are not the parties on whose behalf DOJ is bringing this case.”
Google contends that the DOJ’s investigation has focused on two groups: prominent publishers and Google’s competitors in the ad tech industry. The tech giant further points out that many of these entities were clients of Mr. Kanter while he was in private legal practice, asserting they paid “him millions of dollars over a period of fifteen years to advocate that DOJ and other antitrust enforcers bring antitrust cases against Google.”
Notably, in April, Mr. Kanter recused himself from the case after Google retained his former employer, the law firm Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, to represent them.
Google’s argument centers on Mr. Kanter’s extensive experience in private practice, during which he represented various tech companies, including rival Microsoft, among others. The tech giant contends that Mr. Kanter’s prior affiliations and public statements made before joining the DOJ indicate a preexisting bias against Google’s compliance with antitrust laws.
Before assuming his role at the DOJ, Mr. Kanter represented firms such as Microsoft, Yelp, and News Corp. in private practice.
The Epoch Times contacted the DOJ for comment.
“Such an allegation also ignores the leadership and assistance of dozens of career prosecutors employed by the Antitrust Division,” the memo states.
The DOJ argued that Google seeks to “divert attention away from its alleged illegal conduct” and that its discovery requests were “unusual, invasive, and irrelevant.”
Google is also facing a separate antitrust case, filed by the DOJ under the Trump administration in 2020, targeting the company’s dominance in the search engine market. This case is scheduled to go to trial on Sept. 12, and Google has consistently denied allegations of engaging in anti-competitive behavior in both cases.
