Roger Alford, who was dismissed last month as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s antitrust division, alleged on Monday that two former colleagues “perverted justice” when they negotiated the government’s settlement clearing Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s proposed $13 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks. Speaking at a conference in Aspen, Colorado, Alford labelled the settlement “pay-to-play antitrust enforcement,” named acting Associate Attorney General Chad Mizelle and nominee Stanley Woodward, and urged a federal judge to block the deal. Under the Tunney Act, the settlement cannot take effect until a court decides it serves the public interest, giving judges latitude to consider Alford’s accusations. The former official, now a law professor, said lobbyists with close political ties helped shape the outcome and warned the arrangement shows the antitrust system is “simply unsustainable.” The Justice Department declined to comment on Alford’s claims or on whether it might revisit the merger. Critics outside the department, including some gun-rights activists, have also challenged the agency’s assertion that combining the two companies would improve government efficiency.