U.S. poultry supplier executives acquitted in price-fixing case

Pilgrims Pride

08/07/2022 01:23

WASHINGTON, July 7 (Reuters) - Three executives who worked
for poultry company Pilgrim's Pride  PPC.O  and two executives
of Claxton Poultry Farms were found not guilty on Thursday of
fixing prices in the poultry sector. 
    A court official said on Thursday in an email that the five
were acquitted, ending the Justice Department's third attempt to
win a conviction. 
    Former Pilgrims Pride chief executives William Lovett and
Jayson Penn, were found not guilty, as well as former Pilgrim's
Pride vice president Roger Austin. Mikell Fries, president of
Claxton Poultry, and Scott Brady, a Claxton vice president, were
also acquitted.
    The government had originally charged 10 executives with
price-fixing, but dropped charges against five of them after two
mistrials.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2VY336
    In 2020, Pilgrim's Pride Corp agreed to pay a $110.5 million
fine after striking a plea deal with the Justice Department over
price-fixing charges on chicken products. Pilgrim's Pride is
mostly owned by Brazilian meatpacker JBS SA  JBSS3.SA .
    Prices of chicken wings and breasts, meanwhile, have climbed
38% and 24% since February year-on-year, respectively, according
to research from Wells Fargo.


 (Reporting by Diane Bartz and Keith Coffman; Editing by Kenneth
Maxwell)
 ((Diane.Bartz@thomsonreuters.com; 1 202 898 8313;))