FTC Charges Executive Whose Company Owns New York Knicks, New York Rangers with Violations of U.S. Premerger Notification Requirements

James L. Dolan, Executive Chairman of Madison Square Garden Company, has agreed to pay $609,810 in civil penalties to resolve Federal Trade Commission allegations that he violated the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act by failing to report in a timely manner his acquisition of voting securities in Madison Square Garden Company.

Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, companies and individuals must notify the FTC and the Department of Justice of acquisitions that cause the value of their voting securities in a company to increase above certain dollar value thresholds and then observe a waiting period before completing their transactions.

According to the complaint that the FTC referred to the Department of Justice, Dolan violated the HSR Act by failing to file a notification of his acquisition of additional voting securities in Madison Square Garden Company when his holdings crossed the relevant filing threshold at the time of the alleged filing violation, and failing to observe the required waiting period prior to the acquisition of the shares. The complaint further alleges that this was not Dolan’s first HSR Act filing violation. Although Dolan made a corrective filing, the complaint alleges that Dolan was in continuous violation of the HSR Act from Sept. 11, 2017 – when he acquired the additional Madison Square Garden Company voting securities – through Dec. 26, 2017, when the waiting period expired on his corrective filing.

The Commission vote referring the complaint and proposed stipulated court order to the Department of Justice for filing in federal court was 5-0. The Department of Justice filed the complaint and proposed order in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Dec. 6, 2018.

Consistent with the requirements of the Tunney Act, the proposed settlements, along with the competitive impact statement in this matter will be published in the Federal Register. Any person may submit written comments concerning the proposed settlements during a 60-day comment period to Roberta Baruch, Compliance Division, Bureau of Competition, c/o Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, CC-8416, Washington, D.C. 20580. E-mailed comments should be sent to: rbaruch@ftc.gov. At the conclusion of the 60-day comment period, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia may approve the proposed settlement upon finding that it is in the public interest.

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