US Chicken Firm Pleads Guilty To Price Fixing, Receives $107Mln Fine - Justice Dept.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th February, 2021) A large US chicken producing company has pleaded guilty to charges of price-fixing in an antitrust investigation and has received a $107 million fine, the Department of Justice announced in a press release on Tuesday.

"Pilgrim's Pride Corporation, a major broiler chicken producer based in Greeley, Colorado, has pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to pay approximately $107 million in criminal fines for its participation in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids for broiler chicken products," the Justice Department said.

According to the plea agreement entered in the US District Court in Denver, possibly starting in 2012 and continuing at least into 2017, Pilgrim's participated in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition for sales of broiler chicken products in the United States that affected at least $361 million in its sales of products, the release said.

"These criminal acts cheat American workers and consumers while harming competitive markets. This ongoing investigation has yielded charges against 10 individuals for their efforts to illegally manipulate broiler chicken prices," Washington Field Office Assistant Director Steven D'Antuono said in the release.

The US District Court accepted Pilgrim's guilty plea and sentenced the company to pay a criminal fine of $107,923,572, the Justice Department said.