The financial giant, which processes the majority of debit card spending in the United States, unfairly imposed fees on merchants and deterred rivals, the Justice Department said.

The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday sued Visa, the world’s biggest payments network, saying it propped up an illegal monopoly over debit payments by imposing “exclusionary” agreements on partners and smothering upstart firms.

The largest card network in the U.S. blocked rivals through payments and higher fees levied on merchants, the government said.

Visa has hired a pair of prominent Washington, D.C., antitrust lawyers to help it fight the U.S. Justice Department's new lawsuit accusing the payments giant of monopolizing debit card markets.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa, alleging that the financial services behemoth uses its size and dominance to stifle competition in the debit card market, costing consumers and businesses billions of dollars.

The Justice Department accused Visa of having an illegal monopoly over debit payments in a new lawsuit. The company, which operates the biggest payments network in the world, uses “exclusionary” agreements to smother smaller companies, the department said.

The U.S. Department of Justice plans to file a lawsuit against Visa , the world's largest payments network operator, alleging that the company illegally monopolized the country's debit card market, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.

"Visa's unlawful conduct affects not just the price of one thing, but the price of nearly everything," Attorney General Merrick Garland said.