[JURIST] Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. [corporate websites] on Monday settled an antitrust suit with Discover Financial Services [corporate website] for $2.75 billion. Under the settlement, $1.8875 billion was apportioned to Visa [press release] and $862.5 million to Mastercard [press release] under a judgment-sharing agreement. This settlement is the result of a 2004 lawsuit filed by Discover after a US Department of Justice [official website] suit [opinion, text; complaint, text] determined Visa and Mastercard were in violation of section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act [text] by prohibiting banks from using Discover's services. Reuters has more.

American Express [corporate website] recently finalized antitrust settlements with Visa and Mastercard [press releases] for $2.25 billion and $1.8 billion, respectively, that arose out of a similar complaint [JURIST report]. Visa and Mastercard were involved in another antitrust suit [JURIST report] in 2005 regarding interchange fees.