Apple appoints top Obama legal eagle as antitrust watchdog

Ex-offshore drilling monitor will keep Apple honest after ebook price-fixing scandal

High profile attorney Michael Bromwich, fresh from his latest stint as the top US offshore drilling watchdog, has been tapped to serve as Apple's antitrust compliance monitor.

The lawyer will check that the fruity firm's competition practices and procedures are up to scratch for the next two years, after a court found it guilty of conspiring to fix the price of ebooks.

Having an external expert review its antitrust policies is just one part of the order made against Apple after the guilty verdict, which also forces the fruity firm to rip up its current contracts with book publishers and imposes limits on future agreements.

Apple is still denying that it fixed any prices and is appealing the ruling.

Bromwich was appointed by President Barack Obama to be the first director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, which replaced the Minerals Management Service after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.

"I am deeply honoured to have been selected by the court to serve as the monitor in this matter," he said in a statement. ®