Intel trying to oust FTC lawyer
Just weeks before its antitrust trial with the Federal Trade Commission will start, Intel is trying to oust one of the agency's top lawyers from the case, records show.
In a motion filed under seal last month, Intel is seeking to disqualify Richard Parker, deputy director of the FTC's bureau of competition and the lead attorney prosecuting the agency's case against Intel.
Intel apparently objects to ties that Parker's former firm, O'Melveny & Myers, has to Intel archrival Advanced Micro Devices, which is testifying against Intel in the trial. The FTC, Intel, and AMD all declined to comment.
The loss of Parker would be huge for the FTC.
"There's a lot at stake for the commission, because Rich is perhaps the most capable person to litigate this case in the bureau of competition," said William Kovacic, a visiting professor at George Washington University. "It would be the equivalent of having one of your premier, all-star performers having to sit on the bench."
Details of Intel's disqualification motion came as the names of two new potential trial witnesses emerged. They are Dean A. Klein, former chief technical officer of Micron Electronics, and Donald Lewine, an engineering consultant with Data General. According to FTC records, Intel is seeking to block both witnesses from testifying for the government at the trial, which is scheduled to start March 9.
AMD has harbored a longstanding gripe with Intel over its alleged strong-arm tactics within the chip industry, and has not been shy in sharing its complaints with FTC investigators, according to people familiar with the matter. As previously reported, AMD's chief operating officer, Atiq Raza, is a potential FTC witness in the trial.
Under ethical guidelines established by the government, prosecutors are supposed to advocate on behalf of the general public, and not any particular person or company, said John Steele, a partner at Fenwick & West who teaches an ethics class at the University of California at Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law.