Four former executives of Pilgrim’s Pride, along with Koch Foods, have been criminally charged with conspiring to inflate chicken prices.
One of the indictments, handed down by a federal grand jury in Denver July 28, charges Jason McGuire, a former executive vice president of sales; Timothy Stiller, a former general manager of fresh food services; Wesley “Scott” Tucker, a former national accounts sales executive; and Justin Gay, a former director of fresh foodservice sales. The second, from another Denver grand jury, charges Koch Foods with price-fixing.
The indictments are part of an ongoing, years-long investigation into price-fixing in poultry. Pilgrim’s Pride pleaded guilty in February to conspiring to fix prices, receiving a $107.9 million fine. Several former Pilgrim’s executives are still under indictment in the case, including former CEOs Bill Lovette and Jayson Penn. A Koch senior vice president, William Kantola, was indicted in October 2020.
The former Pilgrim’s Pride executives were charged with violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. The maximum sentence is 10 years in jail and a $1 million fine.
“As today’s charges show, the division remains committed to holding both individuals and companies accountable when they choose profits over following the law,” acting assistant attorney general Richard Powers of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division said in a statement. “Our investigation into criminal price fixing of broiler chickens continues, and we will not stop until we ensure that wrongdoers are held accountable and competition is restored to this critical industry.”
