US: Antitrust head Baer to serve as No. 3 at Justice Department

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced on Monday that Bill Baer will serve as acting associate attorney general, leaving his position as head of the department’s Antitrust Division to take the No. 3 post at the department.

Baer was considered most likely to replace Stuart Delery, the acting associate attorney general, who announced last week that he will leave on April 17.

“From his work at the Federal Trade Commission to his leadership of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, he has demonstrated keen intelligence, strong judgment and consummate skill,” Lynch said of Baer in a statement.

Lynch did not say whether the Obama administration would seek to confirm Baer through a Senate nomination process.

As head of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, Baer oversaw such cases as the scheme by Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays and others to rig the foreign currency exchange spot market as well as the case against Apple for price-fixing e-books, Lynch said.

Full content: Reuters

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