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price fixing
DOJ Files Rent-Fixing Lawsuit Against Corporate Landlords' Go-To Software Firm
"Today is a good day for renters and families and a bad day for predatory landlords," said one advocate.
Aug 23, 2024
Executives at the property management software company RealPage claimed they had the "greater good" in mind when they offered corporate landlords a price-fixing algorithm service, said the U.S. Department of Justice as it filed a lawsuit Friday against the firm—but the scheme allegedly drove rental costs up in communities across the country, contributing to the housing crisis.
The antitrust lawsuit, filed with attorneys general from states including California and Colorado, accused RealPage of using confidential data about its clients to algorithmically determine the highest price renters would pay, using its AI software.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and other officials said the company has violated antitrust laws by providing the service, which gives corporate landlords recommended rental prices and allows them to align prices with one another instead of having to compete.
Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter said the lawsuit is "best understood in the words of RealPage's own executives," who have said the company's software allows landlords to "drive every possible opportunity to increase price, even in the most downward trending or unexpected conditions."
"RealPage tells landlords that it would prefer everybody succeeding versus essentially trying to compete against one another," said Kanter. "But that's not how free markets work. Competition among landlords, not RealPage, should determine prices for renters."
Garland added that "Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law."
As Common Dreams reported in June, RealPage and the corporate landlords that rely on it has come under the scrutiny of watchdogs including Accountable.US, which found that the six largest property management firms brought in a combined $300 million in increased profits in the first quarter of 2024, thanks largely to rent hikes.
The windfall came as rent prices have skyrocketed by more than 31% since 2019, while wages have gone up by just 23%.
RealPage's algorithm is alleged to have helped fix rent prices for about 16 million rental units across the country, said Accountable.US.
"Today is a good day for renters and families and a bad day for predatory landlords," said Lindsay Owens, executive director of the progressive think tank Groundwork Collaborative. "The Department of Justice is right to take on the affordability crisis that RealPage has been supercharging. Algorithms are being used to unfairly drive up prices for housing, meat, and more. This price-fixing must be stopped."
Caroline Ciccone, president of Accountable.US, said Friday's lawsuit shows that "the Justice Department sees evidence of a major rental price-fixing conspiracy by RealPage that extends to metro areas around the country."
"We've documented how many of the same landlord companies that were sued in the initial rent fixing lawsuit have boasted of massive profits after jacking up rents," said Ciccone. "Any property company that uses RealPage in one of these states should face a serious probe. No renter in America should be price gouged under a potentially illegal rent fixing scheme."
Accountable.US added in a social media post that "while rents soared, RealPage executives bragged about how their software could 'maximize' profits, even in the face of a housing crisis."
Andrea Beaty, research director for the Revolving Door Project, said RealPage's actions have "left tenants across the country paying the literal price of corporate greed, even in the midst of a global pandemic."
"This lawsuit will hopefully usher forth renewed corporate accountability in the rental market beyond RealPage, which is far from the only corporation capitalizing on tenant's struggles to live in safe and affordable homes," said Beaty. "We hope that in addition to the bipartisan set of eight state attorneys general suing RealPage, even more attorneys general will sign on in response to RealPage's actions to drive up rental costs in communities in their states."
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'Jail Time Should Seriously Be Considered,' Pocan Says of Big Oil Price Fixing
"I would recommend 'Orange Is the New Black,'" said the Wisconsin Democrat. "We're feeling it at the pumps and clearly this kind of behavior, we know, isn't isolated."
May 15, 2024
As Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan appeared before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Wednesday, Congressman Mark Pocan highlighted recent FTC action against fossil fuel industry price fixing and urged criminal consequences.
"I just did a little napkin math," Pocan (D-Wis.) said. If collusion led to a $0.40-0.60 increase in the price for a gallon of gas for a vehicle, "for the average person filling their tank, that's $8 or $10 a week," he explained. "That's $500 a year of added cost."
If half of the residents in Pocan's congressional district have a car, "that's $175 million a year," he said. If that figure is applied across all 435 districts, it translates to billions of dollars "that we're being gouged because of someone like this who's trying to price collude," he continued, referring to Scott Sheffield, the founder and longtime CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources.
The FTC earlier this month barred Sheffield from serving on the board of directors of or as an adviser to ExxonMobil, which just acquired Pioneer, due to his alleged collusion with the representatives of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and OPEC+.
While welcoming the FTC's move, Pocan noted that "if you commit theft, the average sentence... in the United States is 23 months" and the multibillion-dollar profit that fossil fuel giants make from price gouging "is more than grand larceny theft."
🚨BIG: @RepMarkPocan applauds @FTC for revealing an oil price-fixing scheme that cost Americans billions from 2021-2023.
"I just did a little napkin math ... That's $175 million a year—just for people in my district—that we're being gouged." pic.twitter.com/maM8Uk6usY
— American Economic Liberties Project (@econliberties) May 15, 2024
"What else can we do to these oil companies that are ripping us off?" the congressman asked Khan, an appointee of President Joe Biden with "a pro-working families record."
The FTC chair responded that "price fixing and output reduction in a coordinated way can be criminal violations of the antitrust laws. As enforcers we can't specifically speak to what we're referring and what we're not, but as a general matter, it's been a priority of mine to make sure we are referring more criminal candidates to the Justice Department, because we need to make sure companies and executives aren't just treating fines as a cost of doing business and that they take seriously the rule of law."
Referencing a television show that takes place in federal prison, Pocan told her that "I would recommend 'Orange Is the New Black,' if we need to, to make a point. It would be helpful because we're feeling it at the pumps and clearly this kind of behavior, we know, isn't isolated."
Sharing a video of his remarks on social media, Pocan declared: "Unacceptable! A slap on the wrist isn't enough. I think jail time should seriously be considered."
As the American Economic Liberties Project (AELP) pointed out, Pocan wasn't the only lawmaker to reference the recent price fixing revelations during the Wednesday hearing; he was joined by Reps. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.).
"Finally it's being noticed!" said AELP's Matt Stoller, who has written about the alleged collusion. "Dem House members get it!"
Stoller wasn't alone in welcoming the discussion in Congress—after days of limited attention on the issue among national figures.
"This illegal oil corporation price fixing conspiracy cost Americans as much as $2,100. Per year," saidMore Perfect Union, sharing a video of Pocan and citingThe American Prospect.
The Ohio AFL-CIO stressed: "Greedflation is not inflation. Pass it on."
Noting that Sheffield is getting a $68 million "golden parachute on his way out," former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich argued Wednesday: "That money (and more) should be refunded to the American people. Not sent to his bank account."
Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens similarly said last week that "the Department of Justice should criminally prosecute Scott Sheffield and Congress should tax back the industry's windfall profits and issue every American a refund."
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Congress Urged to Tax Big Oil for Price Fixing and 'Issue Every American a Refund'
The Groundwork Collaborative's leader also said that "the Department of Justice should criminally prosecute Scott Sheffield," the former Pioneer CEO whom the FTC blocked from joining ExxonMobil's board.
May 07, 2024
Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens on Tuesday responded to U.S. government allegations of fossil fuel industry price fixing with calls for federal prosecution and congressional action to return money to the American public.
"Americans have been working harder and harder to cover rising energy costs, with the understanding that supply chain snags and geopolitical forces were keeping prices high," Owens said. "Now the Federal Trade Commission has uncovered the real source behind the price at the pump: collusion."
"The Department of Justice should criminally prosecute Scott Sheffield and Congress should tax back the industry's windfall profits and issue every American a refund," she added, referring to Pioneer Natural Resources' founder and longtime CEO.
Owens' statement came after members of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) declined to contest ExxonMobil's controversial $64.5 billion acquisition of Pioneer—which was completed Friday—but approved a consent order barring Sheffield from serving on Exxon's board of directors or as an adviser to the fossil fuel giant.
"This complaint is a wake-up call about the dangerous consolidation of Big Oil's economic and political power."
The FTC voted 3-2 to accept the order and place related documents on the record for public comment. Citing communications including in-person meetings, public statements, text messages, and WhatsApp conversations, a commission complaint accuses Sheffield of trying to collude with the representatives of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and OPEC+.
"Mr. Sheffield's past conduct makes it crystal clear that he should be nowhere near Exxon's boardroom. American consumers shouldn't pay unfair prices at the pump simply to pad a corporate executive's pocketbook," said Kyle Mach, deputy director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition. "The FTC will remain vigilant in its enforcement efforts to protect competition in these vital markets."
Pioneer toldFortune that the company and its founder "believe that the FTC's complaint reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the U.S. and global oil markets and misreads the nature and intent of Mr. Sheffield's actions," but neither party would take "any steps to prevent the merger from closing."
ExxonMobil "learned of the FTC's allegations regarding Sheffield from the agency and said in a statement that they are 'entirely inconsistent with how we do business,'" according to Fortune. "Exxon has agreed to the terms of the consent decree," which also "prohibits the oil giant from appointing any Pioneer employee or director to its board for five years."
Still, since the FTC's allegations were initially reported by The Wall Street Journal last week and then confirmed with the complaint's release, demands for additional action by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Congress have mounted.
Cassidy DiPaola, Fossil Free Media's director of communications, on Monday called the complaint "explosive" and said that Democrats "must respond with bold action to hold this rogue industry accountable," including:
- Aggressive congressional and DOJ investigations into the full extent of Big Oil's price fixing;
- A windfall profits tax to claw back ill-gotten gains; and
- End taxpayer subsidies for oil and gas.
"But accountability is just the first step. This complaint is a wake-up call about the dangerous consolidation of Big Oil's economic and political power. We can't let them use megamergers to entrench their control and crush clean energy competition," she stressed. "Ultimately, this is about the future we choose: One where we remain at the mercy of Big Oil's greed and destruction, or one where clean, democratically controlled energy powers our communities. It's time to make the right choice."
In response to the Journal's reporting, Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen's Energy Program, similarly said that "Congress must immediately hold hearings on Big Oil's alleged collusion with OPEC to raise gasoline prices for Americans."
"Congress must not only investigate Pioneer's alleged role in conspiring with OPEC, but whether there existed a broader conspiracy by U.S. oil companies to collude with OPEC nations," he argued. "Big Oil must be held accountable for any conspiracy by or among American oil companies and OPEC members."
The reporting was notably published on the same day as the U.S. Senate Budget Committee's hearing about a nearly three-year investigation into fossil fuel companies and trade groups' decadeslong "campaign of deception and distraction," which has evolved from denying the planet-heating impact of their products to pretending to be part of the solution to the climate emergency.
"The joint report and documents we discovered show how, time and again, the biggest oil and gas corporations say one thing for the purposes of public consumption but do something completely different to protect their profits," Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, testified during the hearing. "Company officials will admit the terrifying reality of their business model behind closed doors but say something entirely different, false, and soothing to the public."
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