Molten hot docs: The Tipline for 6 November 2020

In litigation, there are “hot” documents and then there are “molten-rock-spewing-from-the-Earth’s-crust hot” documents. The Department of Justice’s lawsuit seeking to block Visa’ $5 billion acquisition of Plaid included the latter. As Visa mulled buying the financial technology company, the Antitrust Division said one executive likened the competitive threat posed by Plaid to an island volcano with massive potential hidden beneath the water’s surface. The Visa executive did not settle for memorialising his metaphor with mere words, gracing antitrust experts with a hand-drawn illustration that would be the envy of any parents’ refrigerator.