Leaders of chicken business turned out to be innocent in U. S.
2022.04.01 00:59
Leaders of chicken business turned out to be innocent in U. S.
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – After two mistrials in the case focused on competition in the $65 billion poultry sector, the U.S. Justice Department asked a federal court in Denver to drop price-fixing charges against five executives of chicken producing companies.
However, charges against five additional defendants were not dropped by the department. Jonathan Kanter, the head of the U.S. Justice Department Antitrust Division, was instructed by Judge Philip Brimmer of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado to appear before him and explain why the case should be retried.
The charges against Timothy Mulrenin, who at the time worked at Tyson Foods, were dropped by the government; Jimmie Little, a former Pilgrim’s Pride salesman, and William Kantola, a former Koch Foods Inc. salesperson PPC), Gary Brian Roberts, a Tyson sales executive at the time, and Rickie Blake, a George’s Inc. employee. The department claimed in a court filing that this was done “in an effort to streamline the case and conserve the resources of the court, the parties, and the public.”
Two executives from Claxton Poultry Farms, one salesman, and two former Pilgrim’s Pride chief executives make up the remaining five defendants.
From 2012 to 2019, according to court documents, industry executives allegedly conspired to set chicken prices.
In 2020, Tyson stated that it was participating in a corporate leniency program that could shield the company from criminal prosecution and was cooperating with the investigation conducted by the Justice Department.
In addition, Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., a U.S. poultry company, reached a plea agreement with the Justice Department in 2020 and agreed to pay a fine of $110.5 million for price fixing on chicken products. Brazilian meatpacker JBS SA owns the majority of Pilgrim’s Pride (OTC: JBSAY)..
