On October 14, 2026, Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg announced the Manhattan DA’s Office’s first Corporate Crime and Antitrust Task Force (the DA Task Force), signaling a new focus on antitrust enforcement by the DA’s Office, coupled with a continued focus on general white collar enforcement matters. According to the announcement, the DA Task Force will target “high-level actors, corporations, and structures” that facilitate and profit from corporate crimes and misconduct. The DA Task Force, headed by veteran Assistant DA Matthew Bogdanos, will target alleged corporate misconduct, including antitrust violations and consumer and healthcare-related fraud. Bogdanos, most known for his work handling antiquities repatriation matters, has also led the county in murder trials over the years.
The DA Task Force’s particular focus on antitrust is notable. Although state enforcement of criminal antitrust law historically has been rare, multiple state authorities have recently shown growing interest in criminal antitrust enforcement and have commenced criminal actions. The Antitrust Bureau of the New York Attorney General’s Office (the AG’s Office) historically has enforced antitrust laws in New York. And the AG’s Office has recently emphasized its criminal enforcement authority for antitrust offenses. The DA Task Force would appear to create an additional avenue for potential criminal antitrust probes and enforcement, and it is unclear whether these efforts would be coordinated with or be independent of the AG’s Office.
The launch comes at a time of heightened antitrust and consumer protection scrutiny in New York. Last year, New York updated its antitrust laws to prohibit the use of algorithmic pricing software to set apartment rental prices. It also enacted the Algorithmic Pricing Disclosure Act (the Disclosure Act), which requires businesses that set algorithmic prices using consumers’ personal data to include a clear and conspicuous disclosure message about that use and mechanism.
The effects of these new laws, however, remain unsettled. Last month, a federal court preliminarily enjoined the AG’s Office from enforcing the algorithmic rent-setting prohibition. A similar case was filed by a retail industry group challenging the Disclosure Act on First Amendment grounds; that case was dismissed by the district court and is on appeal in the Second Circuit.
It remains to be seen how the DA Task Force will impact antitrust enforcement risk in New York. Nonetheless, its formation marks another development in New York and other states’ increasing antitrust scrutiny independent of federal authorities.
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