LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A Las Vegas executive has been indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiring to fix the wages of local nurses, according to the Department of Justice.
Eduardo Lopez, of Las Vegas, held executive positions at three different home health agencies where he oversaw recruitment, hiring, retention and assignments of nurses and healthcare staff, according to the indictment.
Lopez, and other unnamed co-conspirators, are accused of participating in a series of meetings and communications, where they agreed to "suppress and eliminate competition" for the services of nurses between March 2016 and May 2019.
He currently faces one count of felony wage-fixing.
Fixing wages is a violation of the Sherman Act and carries a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and fines that can range from $1 million to $100 million. According to the DOJ, the maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by victims if either amount is greater than the statutory maximum.
“We will continue to partner with the Antitrust Division and the FBI to protect the marketplace and the rights of workers to earn fair wages,” said U.S. Attorney Jason M. Frierson for the District of Nevada. “We will investigate and prosecute those who engage in anti-competitive activities.”
Anyone with information on market allocation or price fixing by employers should contact the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 1-888-647-3258 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html.
