The World in U.S. Courts: Summer and Fall 2016 - Antitrust/Competition/Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act (FTAIA)
June.29.2016
The plaintiffs are individuals who claim to have been overcharged as a result of a conspiracy among the 17 global-bank defendants to manipulate foreign exchange rates.
Other than import trade, which is outside the scope of the statute, the District Court in New York observed that the FTAIA generally prohibits antitrust actions that do not have a “direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect” on U.S. commerce. In the case at bar, the District Court read the complaint as alleging that the relevant transactions took place in Malaysia and Singapore while the plaintiffs resided in Malaysia. Finding no effect on U.S. commerce, the Court found the plaintiffs’ antitrust claim to be barred by the FTAIA.
[Editor’s note: the Chan Ah Wah case is also addressed in the Securities Law/Commodities Exchange Act (CEA) section of this report.]
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