Alcohol Industry Sees Broader FTC Probe Under Depression-Era Law

The Federal Trade Commission’s petition for a federal court to force Total Wine to comply with an agency investigation opens a window into its broader probe of the alcoholic beverage industry under a mothballed Great Depression-era law.

Retail Services & Systems Inc., which does business as Total Wine & More, fulfilled only some parts of the FTC’s civil investigative demand—effectively a civil subpoena—the agency said in a Friday filing in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The demand is part of a broader probe into whether Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits LLC, a distributor that works ...