Washington, D.C. — Following new reporting from Sohrab Ahmari and UnHerd, which shares fresh insights into how the controversial settlement agreement for the Hewlett Packard Enterprise-Juniper Networks merger was coordinated through “boozy backroom meetings between company lawyers and lobbyists,” the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement. 

“Every new piece of reporting that comes out about this deal, along with attempts to cover it up with what looks like backdated national security concerns, hints at a potential bribery scheme.” said Matt Stoller, Research Director at the American Economic Liberties Project. “If this fake settlement was hashed out via martini-fueled meetings that included payments to Trump world influencers in exchange for securing the deal’s approval, that’s against the law. Congress must immediately subpoena the CEO of HPE and deal lawyers to find out if these allegations are true, along with what exactly happened here and who was paid to do what. Crime shouldn’t pay. If this deal is as smelly as it looks, corporate executives and deal lawyers need to go to jail.”

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.