Pilgrim’s Pride to pay $110.5M to settle in federal price-fixing investigation

GREELEY — Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (Nasdaq: PPC) has agreed to pay a fine of $110.52 million to the U.S. Department of Justice to settle its role in an ongoing investigation into anti-competitive practices in the chicken industry.

In a statement Tuesday night, the Greeley-based Pilgrim’s said the fine is specifically in regard to three contracts sent to an undisclosed customer elsewhere in the U.S. that were restrained in the free flow of competition.

Pilgrim’s said it is not bound to any monitoring or probationary period as part of the deal, nor will the DOJ’s antitrust division bring any more charges against Pilgrim’s in connection to the investigation. That agreement was not publicly available in federal court records as of Tuesday night.

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The deal is subject to approval by the U.S. District Court of Colorado.

The DOJ first got involved in investigating the industry last June, when it took over a lawsuit alleging that major chicken packers such as Pilgrim’s, Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) and others colluded to increase the price of chicken as far back as 2008.

The plea does not involve former CEO Jayson Penn, former vice president Roger Austin or former sales executive Jimmie Little, who are all involved in separate price-fixing indictments by the DOJ.