DOJ and Pinnacle Reach Settlement in RealPage Antitrust Case
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has reached a settlement with Pinnacle Property Management Services, addressing claims that the company used RealPage's algorithmic pricing software to engage in illegal rent-fixing by sharing confidential pricing data among competitors. The proposed consent decree was filed on September 4 as part of an ongoing federal antitrust case against RealPage and other landlords accused of colluding through algorithms to manipulate rental prices across the U.S. Pinnacle, a subsidiary of Cushman & Wakefield (CWS), does not admit fault but must comply with new restrictions under the settlement. These include prohibiting use of anticompetitive pricing algorithms or sharing competitively sensitive data and implementing an internal compliance policy for employees. The agreement also requires Pinnacle to cooperate in future enforcement actions against other defendants. This development is part of a broader DOJ effort targeting algorithmic coordination, which it claims has artificially inflated housing costs nationwide. Other major landlords have already settled with the agency as part of this case.
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