Attorney General Brown Opposes $14B HPE-Juniper Networks Merger Settlement Amid Alleged Corrupt DOJ Approval Process

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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today joined a group of attorneys general in opposing the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposed settlement in the $14 billion HPE/Juniper Networks merger litigation. The coalition of attorneys general also urged the judge overseeing the case to hold a hearing to determine if the settlement was obtained through undue outside influences—influences that federal law intended to prevent.

In a public comment filed with the  Justice Department, the state attorneys general take issue with the department’s settlement of the merger challenge and say that the court should “examine the process that led to the Proposed Final Judgment in this case to uncover whether it has been terminally infected by precisely the type of backroom dealing the Tunney Act was intended to prevent.”

The coalition of attorneys general are pressing the court to hold an evidentiary hearing and require discovery into the settlement and the alleged corrupt process that led to it. “And if, upon exposing the Settlement to sunlight, the evidence establishes that it was the product of undue influence, then the Court should reject it as against the public interest,” the letter states.

In signing the letter, Attorney General Brown joined the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‛i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.

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