Federal court proceedings in which 10 poultry industry executives were charged for allegedly conspiring to fix chicken prices and rig bids ended in a mistrial on December 16.
According to a Bloomberg report, jurors were unable to reach a verdict regarding whether any of the defendants violated any antitrust laws, following a trial that lasted seven weeks and a deliberation process spanning nearly four days.
Those who were initially charged included Mikell Fries, president of Claxton Poultry, Bill Lovette, former CEO of Pilgrim’s Pride; Jayson Penn, also a former CEO of Pilgrim’s Pride, Scott Brady, vice president of Claxton Poultry; Timothy Mulrenin, an executive with Perdue Farms who formerly worked for Tyson Foods; William Kantola, an executive with Koch Foods; Jimmie Little, a former Pilgrim’s Pride sales director; Rickie Blake, a former director and manager at George’s; Roger Austin, a former Pilgrim’s vice president; and Gary Roberts, a Case Farms employee and former Tyson Foods employee.
Fries, Penn, Brady and Austin were the first four to be indicted on federal charges, with that indictment occurring in June 2020. The indictment of the other six men occurred in October 2020.
The trial of the 10 men occurred after the U.S. Department of Justice conducted a yearlong investigation into allegations of anticompetitive behavior among leaders in the U.S. poultry industry.
During the trial, according to the Bloomberg report, Penn’s attorney, Michael Tubach, did not deny that the defendants had access to one another’s pricing information, but asserted that nothing illegal occurred. “It’s not illegal for a competitor to obtain, rely upon and act on on pricing and other information received from competitors and others, so long as there is not agreement to fix prices or rig bids,” Tubach told jurors.
The jury was unable to determine if there ever was an agreement to fix prices or rig bids.
