Keep me logged in until I sign out. The Sherman Act, which prohibits contracts, combinations, and conspiracies in restraint of trade, and monopolization, includes criminal penalties when enforced by the government.
Violation can result in substantial fines and, for individual transgressors, prison terms.
In addition, court orders restraining future violations are also available. These provisions are enforced primarily by the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department. The Federal Trade Commission Act, administered solely by that agency, is a catch-all enactment which has been construed to include all the prohibitions of the other antitrust laws and, in addition, may be utilized to fill what may appear to be loopholes in the more explicit regulatory statutes. Both the Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission have broad investigatory powers to uncover antitrust violations. Yet, despite the breadth of this authority, they are subject to constitutional and statutory limitations.