A Las Vegas healthcare executive will spend more than three years in federal prison after becoming the focus of a historic antitrust case—the Justice Department’s first criminal conviction for wage-fixing.
A federal judge in Nevada sentenced Eduardo “Eddie” Lopez on Tuesday to 40 months in prison. His punishment goes well beyond time behind bars; the court ordered him to forfeit nearly $10.5 million—the profit from selling his staffing firm—and pay another $2.5 million in restitution to the buyer he misled. He also received a $550,000 criminal fine.
The sentencing closes a case that uncovered a conspiracy running from March 2016 to May 2019. Court documents show Lopez led a scheme to suppress wages for home healthcare nurses in the Las Vegas area, limiting their earnings in an otherwise competitive market.
During the wage-fixing operation, prosecutors say Lopez sold his home healthcare staffing company for more than $10 million. A jury later convicted him of fraud for hiding a crucial fact from the buyer: the company was already under federal investigation for antitrust violations.
Assistant Attorney General Abigail A. Slater of the Antitrust Division noted that the prison sentence highlights a tougher stance on labor market manipulation.
“Far from being a mere ‘technical violation,’ wage-fixing is a real crime that harms innocent people — in this case nurses,” Slater said. “The Defendant — a convicted antitrust criminal — profited at the expense of his employees and the unwitting buyer of his home healthcare company.”
Law enforcement officials praised the case as a win for American workers. Attorney General Pamela Bondi called nurses the “bedrock” of the administration and pledged to stand up for employees hurt by corporate collusion.
“A free and fair market are principles of the United States, and the FBI is committed to investigating those who seek to disrupt that and scam hardworking Americans,” added FBI Director Kash Patel, noting that victims lost wages while caring for patients.
The complex investigation was led by the FBI’s International Corruption Unit and the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office.
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