Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is leading a group of 18 Democratic lawmakers accusing Attorney General Pam Bondi of “corruption” for her department’s approval of the merger of Compass Inc. with Anywhere Real Estate.
In a letter to Bondi, Warren and her Capitol Hill colleagues cited a Wall Street Journal report that claimed a review of the transaction by Gail Slater, the head of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust division, was overruled by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who approved the merger.
“This decision raises questions about corruption under your watch and its impact on housing affordability for American families,” said the letter to Bondi. “Allowing this merger will make it easier for these firms to exert greater control over the real estate market, limit consumer access and choice, and ultimately exacerbate the housing crisis that has put homeownership out of reach for millions of Americans.”
While the lawmakers offered no evidence of corruption by Bondi or anyone within her department, their letter noted Slater left the DOJ after being overruled.
“The fact pattern reported in the Compass-Anywhere deal is deeply disturbing, indicating that it may be another example of well-connected industries and lobbyists obtaining inside access to high-level Trump Administration DOJ officials, and using this access to pervert the antitrust process to obtain approval of anticompetitive mergers that will reduce competition and harm the public,” the letter said. “These developments raise serious questions about whether—under your watch—the Department’s merger review process has been corrupted, whether antitrust experts were afforded appropriate independence, whether well-resourced parties had an uneven ability to obtain high-level access outside normal channels, and whether parties agreed to anything in return.”
The lawmakers demanded that Bondi answer questions on the approval process of the Anywhere-Compass deal, setting a March 5 deadline.
Among the lawmakers signing the letter were Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Pramila Jayapal (D-CA), and Yasamin Ansari (D-WA).
Photo by Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons
I am a Coldwell Banker Realty (Anywhere) broker-associate in Los Angeles. We are thrilled to be part of this Big, Beautiful merger with Compass to Make Real Estate Great Again. This collaboration is poised to bring unprecedented opportunities to American homebuyers & sellers. At Coldwell Banker Realty we are retaining our brand & old school work ethic (we have been established since 1906). We will all be elevated by the innovation & technology infused by Compass. It is win-win across the board. It is ALL about offering the best customer service experience for our clients. These 6 busybody “Lawmakers” are always looking for unfounded drama. They should be focusing their attention on the rampant fiscal malfeasance, voter fraud, mismanaged big cities & immigration matters.
Let me guess maga As a former anywhere / realogy agent for 21 years realogy always had the best technology before. Maybe stay in your lane instead of spewing maga bullshit
RICH…GO GET EM”
Rich…the key word is “former”.
I agree that Bondi must be questioned on the proposed merger. Compass-Anywhere must not be allowed to circumvent the normal legal process!!!
There is plenty of brokerage competition in the real estate market. Tough market conditions invariably force some to merge or close their doors. Big brokers often acquire small, private brokers, or small brokers often merge with each other. Now if they do things like charging higher commissions or forcing sellers to use them also when buying, it could be viewed as anti-competitive. However, is there anyone who cannot simply use another broker if they don’t like a given broker’s prices or terms?
Time will tell if this was a good idea! Revisit this argument in 5 years.
Senator Warren’s recent pressure on the DOJ regarding the Anywhere-Compass merger is the latest example of why policymakers should exercise more caution when intervening in industries they don’t fully understand. We saw this same disconnect when President Biden hailed the NAR settlement as a ‘win’ for affordability. In my 21 years as a Realtor, I’ve seen that these top-down changes often backfire. Instead of lowering costs, the new landscape has created unprecedented confusion for buyers and actually increased the total commission burden for sellers in the middle-to-lower price ranges—the very people these policies were supposed to protect. Real estate isn’t a retail product; it’s a complex service that relies on transparent cooperation, something that political ‘lip service’ has only served to undermine.
Mrs Warren you and you fellow democrats are always complain but never offer a solution
‘ it is time for you to stop complaining and offer solutions.
VERY Good Comments above that I Totally Agree with.
Senator Warren may be acting “Heap Big Mad”. What does she have to complain about? No one lied about her ethnicity to steal privilege. She lied.
She is a person with Zero Credibility.
She has zero credibility are you a former Harvard professor. I highly doubt. Heap big idiot
Warren, Shumer and these selected politicians are very concerned about losing their kickbacks from the pockets of rich lobbyists
So Elizabeth Warren and fellow Dems want to bring into question the legality of this merger citing the potential cost and affordability pitfalls to the consumer? The housing “affordability crisis” we are currently facing is the direct result of interest rates rising over 100% in a calendar year (first time since Jimmy Carter) and generational inflation that took less than a year to achieve under Democratic policy. What’s worse is they were told and warned that the reckless and disingenuous spending bills would have those exact results. That’s when the famous “…17 Nobel laureates told us that inflation would not happen as costs were already ‘baked in’ to these bills”
Transaltion: Those who created the problem have no place in suggesting they have a solution.