The U.S. Justice Department and 17 states reached settlement agreements with three major egg producers this week to resolve allegations that the companies illegally colluded for years to raise prices, including when the cost soared to record highs last year.
The states and federal government accused Cal-Maine Foods, Versova and Hickman’s Egg Ranch of a behind-the-scenes arrangement to “artificially inflate the daily price quotations for eggs” between June 2022 and March 2025. In particular, their investigation found that the companies coordinated on what bids they would submit to Urner Barry Publications, a company that runs an index key to determining how much grocery stores, restaurants and others pay for billions of eggs each year.
In turn, that meant “higher prices for eggs sold to consumers,” alleged the complaint, which was filed in Iowa on Monday, the day the settlement terms were announced.
14 Comments
FrankFrankson@lemmy.world · 93 pts · 36d
Cool it's so nice that they get to keep all the profits they stole from us while paying only a portion of those profits as a fine. Justice has been served!
Fun unrelated side note: if you add stryofoam to molotov cocktails it turns them into napalm cocktails!
N0t_5ure@lemmy.world · 55 pts · 36d
$3.3 million is nothing compared to the profits they reaped by running the scam. This was a gift by the Trump administration.
FenrirIII@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 36d
I think you mean grift
BillyClark@piefed.social · 42 pts · 36d
If the fine isn't greater than the cost to consumers (which in this case is far, far more than their profits from the fraud), then this is essentially the government endorsing this behavior.
justaman123@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 36d
Yeah just making sure the government gets it's cut
tumbleweed05@sh.itjust.works · 24 pts · 36d
i never understood why when the people at these companies that commit crimes never see an hour inside a prison? wage theft is the same story. these are crimes. they need to be brought before a court and judge to determine consequences. paying some fine isn’t an appropriate consequence for the damage they’ve done with this one action.
Witchfire@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 36d
Prison is only for the poors. If you have enough money, Capitalism lets you do anything. Just look at how much praise and money Musk has received from the US government for making a child porn generator.
abbadon420@sh.itjust.works · 16 pts · 36d
This only involves three egg producers? How are 3 chickens going to come up with 53 million eggs?
kinkles@sh.itjust.works · 10 pts · 36d
i’m genuinely confused how you thought chickens worked before if not a violent explosion of eggs, millions at a time. Did you think it was like a hundred or something?
_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works · 14 pts · 36d
So, basically a light slap on the wrist for ridiculous profits. Got it.
CandyPants@lemmy.ml · 9 pts · 35d
Make them pay back every penny that they gained by illegally colluding to raise prices.
This is simple, and thats how you know the clowns at the justice department aren't serious. You're giving them alight warning to NOT GET CAUGHT again.
I don't give two shits if they go out of business. Capitalism can only work if the markers are free and you can't point to a single free market these days. Three companies own every industry and fix prices. When thats done with illegal drugs, they're called Cartels.
homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 36d
Eggs From Plants people: Hey!
breakfastmtn@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 36d
Every American gets 0.152 eggs! Woooooooooooo! Fuck yeah! You can make 5% of a celebration cake with that! 🎉
JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 34d
So how much are they now?
joeljoelle@piefed.blahaj.zone · 0 pts · 36d