A federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court in Denver, Colorado, returned an indictment against four executives for their role in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids for broiler chickens, the Department of Justice announced. Per CNBC, the people named in the indictment are Jason Penn, CEO of Pilgrim’s Pride; Roger Austin, former Pilgrim’s vice president; Mkell Fries, Claxton Poultry Farms president, and Scott Brady, a former Pilgrim’s executive who joined Claxton in 2012.

“Particularly in times of global crisis, the division remains committed to prosecuting crimes intended to raise the prices Americans pay for food,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. “Executives who cheat American consumers, restauranteurs, and grocers, and compromise the integrity of our food supply, will be held responsible for their actions.”

According to the DOJ, the one-count indictment charges four current and former senior executives from two major broiler chicken producers with conspiring to fix prices and rig bids for broiler chickens. Part of the indictment states: “It was part of the conspiracy that PENN, FRIES, BRADY, and AUSTIN, together with their co-conspirators known and unknown to the Grand Jury, in the State and District of Colorado and elsewhere, participated in a continuing network of Suppliers and co-conspirators, an understood purpose of which was to suppress and eliminate competition through rigging bids and fixing prices and price-related terms for broiler chicken products sold in the United States.

“It was further part of the conspiracy that PENN, FRIES, BRADY, and AUSTIN, together with their co-conspirators, in the State and District of Colorado and elsewhere, utilized that continuing network:

“a. to reach agreements and understandings to submit aligned, though not necessarily identical, bids and to offer aligned, though not necessarily identical prices, and price-related terms, including discount levels, for broiler chicken products sold in the United States; b. to participate in conversations and communications relating to non-public information such as bids, prices, and price-related terms, including discount levels, for broiler chicken products sold in the United States with the shared understanding that the purpose of the conversations and communications was to rig bids, and to fix, maintain, stabilize, and raise prices and other price-related terms, including discount levels, for broiler chicken products sold in the United States; c. to monitor bids submitted by, and prices and price-related terms, including discount levels, offered by, Suppliers and co-conspirators for broiler chicken products sold in the United States.”

For more information about the indictment, visit CNBC or the Department of Justice’s notice, which includes a link to the actual inductment.

Source: CNBC