Antonio Cardenas Arriola

Partner

US-LatAm Practice Group Regional Co-Leader, Regulatory & Antitrust / Compliance

Emailantonio.cardenas@us.dlapiper.com

About

Antonio Cárdenas is a trial lawyer who focuses on bringing proceedings (constitutional trials) and ordinary defense proceedings in administrative matters, and he advises on internal investigations, regulatory matters, and relations with authorities in regulated markets. He has extensive experience in litigation affairs involving highly regulated markets and complex antitrust matters.

Areas of FocusLitigation, Arbitration and Investigations

Bar admissionsMexico

'Antonio Cárdenas' service is exceptional,' one commenter told Chambers. 'His expertise in the TMT industry is fundamental to our handling of complicated and challenging cases.'

Another respondent added, 'He is an excellent lawyer who has strong technical skills.' Chambers noted: 'He provides a service well above expectations' and commented, 'Antonio Cárdenas of DLA Piper garners market recognition for his experience in administrative litigation proceedings in Mexico.'

One client comments: 'Antonio Cárdenas is a very good practitioner,' while an impressed market observer declares: 'He is an excellent lawyer, technically solid, studious, and a great litigator in regulatory matters in the telecom space.'

— Chambers Latin America, 2023

EXPERIENCE

Led two landmark amparo trials, against fines imposed by the defunct Federal Antitrust Commission, where it was decided that the Technical Secretary lacks the authority to impose penalties
Lead the antitrust defense in four multimillion-dollar class actions initiated by the Antitrust Commission in the industry of LP Gas
Lead the administrative appeal against a public bidding of the Ministry of Defense, which ultimately June led to the annulment of the Ministry of Defense decision
Lead the defense of the authority of a Mexico City public entity in a major litigation regarding one of the most significant infrastructure projects of the last few years in Mexico City
Lead the risk assessment on FTOs designation, and consequences to help several major companies to navigate the current environment with close collaboration with DLA Piper's US team
Lead the defense of an international company regarding the accrual of a material sanction levied by the Mexican Federal Tax Administration Service (SAT) for alleged breach of anti-money laundering (AML) controls
Advised Grupo Cox (Cox), a leading Spanish multinational water and energy company, in its acquisition of Iberdrola's power generation assets in Mexico for US$ 4.2 billion
Led dozens of internal investigations on major companies in several industries, such as food and beverage, apparel, pharma, mining, tire market, domestic appliances, broadcast, technology, media, and oil and gas, among others
Led dozens of amparo trials regarding antitrust and telecommunications regulatory issues of one of the largest telecommunication companies in the world
Lead the amparo trial against one major investigation conducted by the defunct Federal Antitrust Commission in the oil and gas industry in connection with the defense of one of the largest distributors in Mexico
Led the administrative litigation in several fines levied by the National Banking Commission for alleged AML protocol breaches. All the trials resulted in favor of the client
Led the amparo trial against the denial of a bank the authorization to be an ancillary entity in collecting taxes
Led the amparo trial against specific rules issued by the Secretariat of Education, which affected all the students up to high school in public education, and obtained an injunction and later a final ruling vacating such rules with benefits for millions of students in Mexico
Led the legal defense in the first amparo trial filed by the Railroad Association, which comprises 99% of the railroad market in Mexico, against a particular rule issued by the Federal Railroad Commission
Led the legal defense of one of Mexico's most significant dairy product companies, which challenged transit regulations (prohibitions on heavy-weight vehicles used in the supply chain) in ten municipalities of Nuevo León. All of the trials ended with favorable rulings issued by different courts
Led the defense of a leading Global food and beverages producer against the prohibition of the Mexico City Government from commercializing plastic coffee capsules. The legal defense permitted the client to continue distributing the coffee capsules
Advised various public entities in designing, implementing, and defending the sale procurement process for the sale of nine sugar mills before the Supreme Court of Justice. These represent 22.2% of the overall Mexican sugar production
Advised the Shared Telecommunications Network (the most significant public telecommunications infrastructure project in Mexico's history) since the bidding process and its legal defense before the Supreme Court of Justice
Participated in more than two hundred complaints before the Federal Institute of Telecommunications against the abuse of market power of Mexico's largest Telco
Participated in the defense in a cartel investigation in the oil and gas national distribution market conducted by the defunct Federal Antitrust Commission. In counseling the client (a major liquid petroleum gas distributor), Antonio led an internal investigation, interviewing several company functionaries to determine if there was any misconduct or illegal activity under the Federal Antitrust Law
Participated in the defense in a cartel investigation in the Treasury Bonds market conducted by the defunct Federal Antitrust Commission. While counseling the client (global banking institution), Antonio participated in an internal investigation, interviewing several functionaries to determine if there was any misconduct or illegal activity under the Federal Antitrust Law
Participated in the defense in a cartel investigation in the Aeronautic Transportation market conducted by the defunct Federal Antitrust Commission; among counseling to the client (a major airline), Antonio participated in an internal investigation interviewing several functionaries, to determine if there was any misconduct or illegal activity under the Federal Antitrust Law. This investigation was in close collaboration with the Miami office of his prior firm
Participated in the defense of a cartel investigation in the pension funds market conducted by the defunct Federal Antitrust Commission, counseling the client (a global pension fund manager). Antonio participated in an internal investigation, interviewing several functionaries to determine if there was any misconduct or illegal activity under the Federal Antitrust Law
Participated in the defense in a cartel investigation in the poultry market conducted by the defunct Federal Antitrust Commission. While counseling the client (a global poultry producer), Antonio participated in an internal investigation, interviewing several functionaries to determine if there was any misconduct or illegal activity under the Federal Antitrust Law
Led the drafting, reviewing, and implementing of Codes of Conduct, anti-corruption policies, and protocols for companies in several industries, including food and beverage, pharmaceutical, energy, telecom, and financial services, including documentation that governs the relationship between company functionaries and public servants, and all relevant "contact rules" and protocols to be followed in case of a breach or internal misconduct