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Priceless: The Case that Brought Down the Visa/MasterCard Bank Cartel
Lloyd Constantine began his career in legal services, representing impoverished clients in civil rights and constitutional cases. Decades later, he would make headlines for representing retailers and consumers against a cartel that undermined one of the fundamental tenets of commerce in America: competition. A man who thrives on competition himself, Constantine now gives us the insider's story on the biggest antitrust lawsuit in history—a case that pitted his small firm against financial-industry giants Visa and MasterCard, along with Clifford-Chance, the largest law firm in the world.
Combining the real-life legal drama of A Civil Action with the relentless pace of a John Grisham novel, Constantine delivers the definitive account of a case that made history and will be studied for years to come. Beginning in the 1980s, when Visa and MasterCard—whose combined market share topped 95 percent—announced the merger of their debit card networks, Priceless traces the fallout of this catastrophic union, from raised eyebrows among attorney generals to the launch of a major class-action lawsuit. For the five merchants initially represented by Constantine's firm (Wal-Mart, Sears, Circuit City, Safeway, and The Limited), the reality of the situation was clear: millions of U.S. businesses were being illegally coerced in a scheme that forced excessive fees on merchants every time a customer used a debit card. When a $3.4 billion settlement was reached in 2003, the court estimated that the case would save stores and shoppers up to $87 billion in the first decade alone.
A suspense-filled story with a vibrant cast of characters—and a smoking-gun document known as "The Shark"—Priceless travels from corporate backrooms to the courtroom to capture one of America's biggest triumphs in the high-stakes world of antitrust litigation.
Combining the real-life legal drama of A Civil Action with the relentless pace of a John Grisham novel, Constantine delivers the definitive account of a case that made history and will be studied for years to come. Beginning in the 1980s, when Visa and MasterCard—whose combined market share topped 95 percent—announced the merger of their debit card networks, Priceless traces the fallout of this catastrophic union, from raised eyebrows among attorney generals to the launch of a major class-action lawsuit. For the five merchants initially represented by Constantine's firm (Wal-Mart, Sears, Circuit City, Safeway, and The Limited), the reality of the situation was clear: millions of U.S. businesses were being illegally coerced in a scheme that forced excessive fees on merchants every time a customer used a debit card. When a $3.4 billion settlement was reached in 2003, the court estimated that the case would save stores and shoppers up to $87 billion in the first decade alone.
A suspense-filled story with a vibrant cast of characters—and a smoking-gun document known as "The Shark"—Priceless travels from corporate backrooms to the courtroom to capture one of America's biggest triumphs in the high-stakes world of antitrust litigation.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 3, 2019
Heartily recommended for anyone who has ever had to devise a regulatory monitoring strategy for Articles 6-12 of the Interchange Fee Regulation. Sadly for the publishers there are at most 28 of us.
June 21, 2013
Priceless is an effort to stop certain business practices and alter the anti competitive structure of an industry using US Antitrust laws as the instrument of change.
Told in the first person, Lloyd takes us into the inner workings of the case that brought down the Visa/Mastercard bank cartel. Lead counsel on the case, he shares with us how he won, saving merchants and consumers over 87 billion dollars.
If you love legal drams, you will probably enjoy Priceless. Sometimes all the technical wording became too much for me, but they are relevant to the story. Wal-Mart, The Limited, and Circuit City are just a few of the five million stores listed in the case. Mr. Constantine's political involvement prevented him from sharing his story until now.
Told in the first person, Lloyd takes us into the inner workings of the case that brought down the Visa/Mastercard bank cartel. Lead counsel on the case, he shares with us how he won, saving merchants and consumers over 87 billion dollars.
If you love legal drams, you will probably enjoy Priceless. Sometimes all the technical wording became too much for me, but they are relevant to the story. Wal-Mart, The Limited, and Circuit City are just a few of the five million stores listed in the case. Mr. Constantine's political involvement prevented him from sharing his story until now.
January 21, 2022
An interesting read that I was introduced to by a fintech bookclub - felt like much of it was namedropping and would be entirely more interesting knowing who those were (or how a case as large as Merchants' impacted their trajectory before/after). ** Something where an interactive/smart reader would improve the experience.
It is wild how much changed since that time - debit still a boom since the GFC and credit exploded as well - there are numbers in here that are undoubtedly large, but hard to grasp the context for how much digital/mobile accelerated spending habits. Not that the author should be held to that, I think it's simply vital for the trajectory of where we've come in that time.
As a book, the setup with Constantine's prior involvement, jumping into antitrust and setting stage for the Case was intense - I enjoyed the gusto with which he delivered glancing and impactful blows, what was brought about. To bring it into the present, I think there was an opportunity to dive into the competitive/anticompetitive nature of Visa/MC that could have been enlightening for the big tech battles that embroil Washington / courts of late.
It is wild how much changed since that time - debit still a boom since the GFC and credit exploded as well - there are numbers in here that are undoubtedly large, but hard to grasp the context for how much digital/mobile accelerated spending habits. Not that the author should be held to that, I think it's simply vital for the trajectory of where we've come in that time.
As a book, the setup with Constantine's prior involvement, jumping into antitrust and setting stage for the Case was intense - I enjoyed the gusto with which he delivered glancing and impactful blows, what was brought about. To bring it into the present, I think there was an opportunity to dive into the competitive/anticompetitive nature of Visa/MC that could have been enlightening for the big tech battles that embroil Washington / courts of late.
August 9, 2020
I think everyone should read this book.
October 3, 2022
A truly in-depth look at the excruciating work necessary to bring down a huge capitalist conspiracy. You gotta be interested in legal technicalities though.
December 29, 2022
Interesting story that would be better off being told by someone else who didn't have so much skin in the game. Ends up being a 'look how brilliant I was' book.
August 20, 2024
A very detailed account of the trial, I enjoyed hearing about the trial preparation and learning of the economic and social changes contributing to the payment industry becoming what it is today. Very helpful in understanding the history of the business model of Visa and Mastercard brands.
October 10, 2010
Long winded but still interesting. I wasn't aware of the Visa/Mastercard bank cartel and the ensuing antitrust lawsuit until I came across this book. Could trim some "layerly prose" to make it shorter.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews