Exclusive: Trump picks Washington lawyer Joe Simons to lead FTC

By Diane Bartz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump has chosen Joseph Simons, an antitrust lawyer with a Washington law firm, to head the Federal Trade Commission, a White House official said on Wednesday.

Trump is expected to nominate Simons to the agency, along with Noah Phillips and Rohit Chopra as FTC commissioners, a White House official said. Once confirmed, Simons would be named chairman, the official said.

The agency is currently headed by acting chairwoman Maureen Ohlhausen, a Republican, and the only other commissioner is Democrat Terrell McSweeny. The president had long been expected to appoint a permanent chair and fill three vacant commission positions — two for Republicans and one for Democrats or independents.

Simons, a partner at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, served as director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition from 2001 to 2003.

While Simons worked at the FTC, the agency sued Diageo PLC and Pernod Ricard before buying Seagram Spirits and Wine in 2001 to prevent a duopoly in the rum market. The FTC also filed a lawsuit in 2003 to stop Haagen-Dazs owner Nestle Holdings Inc from buying Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Inc, which also produces superpremium ice cream. The FTC later settled both cases.

Noah Phillips, who graduated from Stanford Law School in 2005, is the lead attorney for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas. He is also a veteran of the law firms Steptoe & Johnson LLP and Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

To fill the empty Democratic seat on the commission, the president tapped Rohit Chopra, an expert on financial services. Chopra, an ally of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, is currently on the Consumer Federation of America.

The FTC works with the Department of Justice to enforce antitrust laws and pursues companies accused of deceptive advertising. It is an independent agency headed by a president and four commissioners. No more than three commissioners may come from one party.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Diane Craft)