Brendan Ballou
Brendan Ballou is a former federal prosecutor with extensive experience in law and government. Ballou served as Special Counsel for Private Equity with the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division. He also worked in private practice and the National Security Division, where he advised the White House on counterterrorism and other policies. Ballou is the award-winning author of Plunder, where he sheds light on how private equity reshapes American life—and how policy can respond.
Brendan Ballou Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
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Special Counsel for Private Equity, Antitrust Division
Academic History
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J.D., Doctor of Law
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B.A., Bachelor of Arts
Plunder is the authoritative exposé of private equity: what it is, how it kills businesses and jobs, how the government helps, and how we stop it.
The book is a well-sourced, compelling indictment of modern private equity's extractive practices across multiple sectors.
Ballou explains how private equity has reshaped American business by raising prices, reducing quality, cutting jobs, and shifting resources.
He also reveals in an agenda for reining in the industry, private equity can be stopped from wrecking further havoc.
Ballou served as Special Counsel for Private Equity in the Antitrust Division, where he addressed the growing concerns about the influence of private equity in critical sectors like healthcare, housing, and defense.
He investigated roll-up strategies, concentration risks, and anticompetitive behavior stemming from private equity-backed firms.
He also used his position to bridge the antitrust concerns with broader structural economic issues, laying the groundwork for the themes explored in his book Plunder.
Prior to joining the Antitrust Division, he worked in the National Security Division, where he advised the White House on counterterrorism and cybersecurity issues.
His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, and the Nation, among others.