ATG NEWS RELEASE: HAWAIʻI JOINS COALITION OF STATES INTERVENING IN ALLEGED CORRUPT HEWLETT PACKARD/JUNIPER NETWORKS MERGER SETTLEMENT

STATE OF HAWAIʻI

KA MOKU ʻĀINA O HAWAIʻI

JOSH GREEN, M.D.

GOVERNOR

KE KIAʻĀINA

DEPARTMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

KA ʻOIHANA O KA LOIO KUHINA

ANNE LOPEZ

ATTORNEY GENERAL

LOIO KUHINA

HAWAIʻI JOINS COALITION OF STATES INTERVENING IN ALLEGED CORRUPT HEWLETT PACKARD/JUNIPER NETWORKS MERGER SETTLEMENT

News Release 2025-89

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                       

Oct. 15, 2025

HONOLULU – Attorney General Anne Lopez today joined a coalition of state attorneys general to intervene in a court’s review of the $14 billion merger settlement between Hewlett Packard Enterprises and Juniper Networks that was reportedly the result of undue influence by well-connected lobbyists.

Considering the significant concerns about the process and substance of the HPE/Juniper Networks settlement, the coalition is urging the court to apply its authority under the federal Tunney Act to order an evidentiary hearing in which the states can appear as parties. The Tunney Act is a post-Watergate law enacted by Congress in 1974 to ensure that antitrust settlements reached by the Justice Department are based on the merits rather than undue influence by powerful corporations and their well-connected lobbyists.

“To protect the public interest, critical judicial review is warranted in light of the circumstances surrounding the abrupt change in the enforcement stance of the U.S. Department of Justice,” said Attorney General Lopez.

Last month, Attorney General Lopez joined a group of attorneys general in sending a letter to the Justice Department questioning the settlement after public reporting indicated that the final product was driven by improper influence peddling at the highest levels of the department rather than antitrust concerns. Moreover, the settlement seems to have wholly deficient remedies relative to the anticompetitive harms alleged by the Justice Department in their complaint seeking to block the merger.

Today, the coalition of attorneys general, who are joint enforcers of the federal antitrust laws, are asking the court to grant their motion to intervene in the case, arguing that the states have a strong interest in ensuring that antitrust settlements are in the public interest and in preventing unlawful mergers from harming their citizens. Without the states’ intervention, the coalition explains, the only parties will be those that support the settlement, and the court would hear a one-sided argument. Intervention would also give the states a path to review the merger on the merits and, if necessary, challenge it in court. 

Attorney General Lopez joins the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, New York, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin in filing the motion with the court.

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Media contacts:

Dave Day

Special Assistant to the Attorney General

Office: 808-586-1284                                                  

Email: [email protected]        

Web: http://ag.hawaii.gov

Toni Schwartz
Public Information Officer
Hawai‘i Department of the Attorney General
Office: 808-586-1252
Cell: 808-379-9249
Email: [email protected]