Justice Department antitrust suit against RealPage alleges collusion with landlords
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(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department and several state attorneys general filed an antitrust suit Friday against RealPage, alleging the real estate software company engaged in a complex collusion scheme with landlords that resulted in higher prices for renters across the country.
The lawsuit is the latest salvo in the Biden administration’s increasingly aggressive efforts to rein in powerful companies who they accuse of using their dominance in the markets to harm consumers.
The Justice Department’s suit, a result of what officials described as a years-long “painstaking” investigation, alleges the company unlawfully conspired with landlords who agreed to share with the company non-public information related to rental rates and lease terms that RealPage then entered into its algorithmic pricing software.
As a result, the lawsuit alleges, the software would generate pricing recommendations for properties based on the non-public information that in the usual course of business would not be part of normally competitive efforts between landlords to attract renters.
While the company has faced civil lawsuits before at the state level over allegations of collusion, officials said the suit appears to be the first federal one of its kind involving such an advanced algorithmic collusion scheme.
“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,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “We allege that RealPage’s pricing algorithm enables landlords to share confidential, competitively sensitive information and align their rents.”
The civil complaint against the company quotes extensively from internal documents and testimony from RealPage executives, including one instance where the company allegedly acknowledged how its software benefited landlords’ efforts to maximize prices — describing its software as “a rising tide raises all ships.”
While it’s not immediately clear what the department will ultimately demand of the company if a judge finds its actions violated antitrust laws, the Justice Department said in a release it will seek an order that RealPage cease in its alleged collusion with landlords “and restore competition for the benefit of renters in states across the country.”
RealPage did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit from ABC News.
(WASHINGTON) — After nearly two years of House Republicans vowing to investigate President Joe Biden and his family’s business dealings — while repeatedly falling short in substantiating their most significant claims — the House Judiciary, Oversight, and Ways and Means Committees on Monday released a nearly 300-page impeachment inquiry report filled with familiar allegations against the president, who has already announced he will not seek a second term.
The report, released on the first day of the Democratic National Convention and the morning of the day the president is slated to speak, rehashes many of the allegations Republicans previously made against President Biden while alleging that they have uncovered “impeachable conduct.”
However, the report does not recommend specific articles of impeachment; it instead says that the decision on the next steps will be left to the larger congressional body.
There appear to be no new bombshells in the report. The report details six so-called key findings alleging that the Biden family received $27 million from foreign entities using shell companies, $8 million in questionable loans, special treatment for Hunter Biden and White House obstruction of the impeachment inquiry into the president.
While the report is highly detailed and cites a wide array of documents and testimony, it provides few, if any, instances of Joe Biden himself being directly and knowingly involved in illegal or improper activities – mainly focusing on the actions of his son, Hunter Biden and his allies, and the president’s brother, Jim Biden.
The report appears to serve as a roadmap for House Republicans if they move to draft articles of impeachment for the House to then take up when Congress returns on Sept. 9.
It’s not clear yet what the next steps will be, including if articles of impeachment will even be drafted and formally introduced. If articles are introduced, one of the House committees — likely Judiciary led by Jim Jordan — would then hold a markup to pass the articles out of committee for House floor consideration. It’s not clear if Speaker Mike Johnson would hold an impeachment vote on the floor. Republicans have hesitated for months to move forward with impeaching Biden because they do not have enough votes to clear the measure, and many believe Biden’s actions do not merit impeachment.
Congress is only in session for three weeks in September and out on recess until after the November 2024 election. Notably, since Biden has dropped his reelection bid, House Republicans have already trained their sights on the new presumptive Democratic ticket, launching fresh investigations into both Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz.
One of the key allegations in the report says that James Biden and Hunter Biden received a total of nearly $8 million in loans from entertainment attorney Kevin Morris, who represented Hunter Biden; family friend Joey Langston; and car dealer John Hynansky.
The vast majority of the alleged loans — more than $6 million of it — came from Morris, who allegedly paid more than $1.9 million of Hunter Biden’s tax liabilities, helped the president’s son buy a new house in Venice, California, and hire security. But, the report added, “Mr. Morris’s wealth allowed him to cover these tax debts and other debts for Hunter Biden without regard to expectation of repayment.”
The report suggests Morris’ financial assistance “creates the perception, at the very least, there was an unspoken quid pro quo or unlawful campaign contribution for which Mr. Morris would erase Hunter Biden’s IRS troubles—and by extension, help the Biden campaign rid itself of a serious liability—and receive some benefit in return.”
But the report does not provide any direct evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden himself in relation to this financial assistance.
Notably, multiple previous associates of Hunter Biden told the Oversight Committee over the course of the investigation that President Biden had no involvement with Hunter’s business dealings. Rob Walker, a longtime business associate of Hunter Biden, said in a closed-door interview in January that President Biden “was never involved” in Hunter Biden’s business dealings. “To be clear, President Biden — while in office or as a private citizen — was never involved in any of the business activities we pursued. Any statement to the contrary is simply false,” Walker said in his opening statement.
The report also claims the White House obstructed the Committees’ investigation into President Biden’s alleged retention of classified documents by preventing White House officials from testifying, erroneously asserting executive privilege and limiting access to materials from the National Archives.
Biden’s alleged retention of classified documents was independently investigated by Special Counsel Robert Hur, who recommended against charging Biden. While Hur says he found evidence that Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified information,” he determined that charges were not warranted because “evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Hur’s decision to not recommend charges against Biden relied in part on his finding that Biden would come off as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” to a jury, a statement the president has slammed.
The report sharply criticized the White House for asserting executive privilege over the audio of Biden’s interview with Hur, arguing that the recording itself was necessary to understand Biden’s “mental state” and overall culpability. The DOJ defended its decision not to turn over the recordings by arguing the audio was “cumulative” and releasing them would harm “the evenhanded administration of justice” by preventing future cooperation from witnesses.
In June, House Republicans voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress over his failure to turn over the audio recordings, though the DOJ declined to prosecute Garland due to a longstanding policy against prosecuting an attorney general. A Republican-led effort to hold Garland in inherent contempt for his failure to turn over the audio tapes, which would have led to Garland being fined $10,000 per day until he complied with a congressional subpoena, failed in July.
Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, speaks during an event at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre September 20, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris will define her economic views as “pragmatic” during a policy speech in Pittsburgh on Wednesday as her team thinks she is making up ground against former President Donald Trump on the economy, a senior campaign official said.
In the speech, Harris plans to tell voters that “as a capitalist she understands the limitations of government” and that the government must “work in partnership with the private sector and entrepreneurs,” according to the senior official, granted anonymity to preview Harris’ speech. The official notes Harris will make clear “she is unafraid to hold bad actors accountable if she needs to.”
Harris is also expected to evoke former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose New Deal agenda brought America back from a steep economic downturn during the Great Depression, in her remarks, according to another senior campaign official.
The vice president will also argue that her economic philosophy is “rooted in her middle-class upbringing” and contrast that with Trump’s “gilded path to wealth,” as part of a larger values argument, the senior official said.
“For Donald Trump, our economy works best if it works for those who own the big skyscrapers. Not those who build them. Not those who wire them. Not those who mop the floors,” Harris is prepared to say Wednesday.
In drawing that comparison, Harris will highlight the “pressures of making ends meet” that she’ll say her mother experienced trying to balance a budget late at night at the kitchen table.
The remarks, to be delivered at the Economic Club of Pittsburgh, comes as Harris and her advisers see an opening to erode Trump’s edge on the economy in voters’ eyes as many Americans get to know the vice president, a senior official said.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted after the ABC News presidential debate earlier this month found that the economy was the top issue for voters, with 91% saying it was an important issue for them. In that poll, voters trusted Trump to do a better job handling the economy than Harris by 7-point margin. A recent NBC News poll out Sunday showed Trump led Harris in dealing with the economy by a 9-point spread.
Harris has made the economy and the cost of living a focal point of her campaign. In recent weeks, Harris has rolled out proposals to give first time homebuyers $25,000 down payment assistance for first time homebuyers, increasing the small businesses start up tax credit tenfold to $50,000, and a $6,000 child tax credit for the first year of a newborn’s life.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Friday signed a proclamation establishing the Springfield 1908 Race Riot Monument, located on the site of a deadly attack on a Black community by a white mob 116 years ago.
By establishing the monument, the White House said in a statement, the president is “recognizing the significance of these events and the broader history of Black community resilience in the face of violent oppression.”
Biden was joined by civil rights leaders, community members and elected officials in the Oval Office.
“What I’m excited about, beyond the specifics of this, we’re rewriting history,” Biden said. “So our children, our grandchildren – everybody understands what happened, and what can still happen.”
Just before signing the proclamation, he explained how “a mob not far from Lincoln’s home unleashed a race riot in Springfield.”
Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin elaborated on what he called the “national significance” of the attack’s ties to Abraham Lincoln.
“It was the connection with Lincoln that really drove home the point that racism has to end in America,” he said at the signing ceremony. “And we’re still fighting that battle now.”
The monument will protect 1.57 acres of federal land in Springfield, Illinois, and will include the foundations of five houses that were destroyed in the violence.
“I know this may not seem significant to you, to most Americans, but it’s important. It’s important, important, important,” Biden said.
The White House added that this incident was representative of the “racism, intimidation, and violence that Black Americans experienced across the country.”
Biden emphasized the need for generations of Americans to understand such history. “As a matter of fact something happened here similar, recently,” he said.
He also noted how the horrific attack “sparked the creation of the NAACP,” which he views as “one of the most important organizations” in America.
“I’m so proud that Springfield, Illinois, is home to the beginning of the NAACP,” Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth added. “Good things can come out of bad things, as long as you don’t forget what happened.”
Lawmakers have been calling on Biden to use his authority under the Antiquities Act to designate the site as a national monument.
Although legislation had been introduced seeking to advance this goal, Duckworth explained how “it’s been stuck in the House.”
As a result, they believed executive action was the “best chance to protect this area and mark this part of our history.”
This effort marks the eighth addition to the national park system during the Biden-Harris administration.
