Pilgrim’s Pride CEO and Other Executives Indicted for Price Fixing

The current and former executives from Pilgrim’s Pride and Claxton Poultry Farms have been indicted for price fixing this week.

Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride fell as much as 13% in afternoon trading as Wall Street learned that the company’s CEO Jayson Penn and other executives had been indicted.

The other executives allegedly involved in the scheme include former Pilgrim’s Pride vice president Roger Austin, Claxton Poultry Farms President Mikell Fries and Scott Brady, a former Pilgrim’s Pride executive who joined Claxton in 2012.

Pilgrim’s Pride supplies chicken for Costco and Yum Brands’ KFC and Claxton is a supplier for Chick-fil-A.

A grand jury in the U.S. District Court in Denver, Colorado indicted all four with one count of conspiring to fix prices for broiler chickens from at least 2012 through 2017.

According to the indictment, Pilgrim’s Pride and Claxton executives communicated to each other non-public information about negotiations with fast-food chains and grocery stores and put forth similar bids.

The Department of Justice said that the investigation is still ongoing. The four men are the first to be charged. The offense carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and $1 million fine.

The fine can be higher if the amount lost by victims or gained by the defendants was more than $1 million.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ: PPC) and have not been compensated for this article.