03:36 PM EDT, 09/24/2024 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with additional details in the third and fourth paragraphs.)

The US Department of Justice on Tuesday filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in a federal court against Visa (V) for allegedly monopolizing the debit card market.

In its suit, the DOJ said it is bringing the action "to put a stop to Visa's exclusionary and anticompetitive schemes, unfetter the markets of Visa's unlawful monopoly, remedy the harm Visa has caused, deny Visa the fruits of its statutory violations, and prevent the recurrence of these violations ... in the future."

The lawsuit claims that the company allegedly monopolized and attempted to monopolize debit card processing in the US as well as entered into unlawful agreements that disabled competition and restrained trade.

"We allege that Visa has unlawfully amassed the power to extract fees that far exceed what it could charge in a competitive market," US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Visa did not immediately reply to a request for comment from MT Newswires.

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