by Krissa Welshans Feedstuffs
Carina Ventures, a subsidiary of litigation funder Burford Capital, recently filed a lawsuit, alleging major U.S. turkey companies conspired to fix prices. According to Reuters, Sysco was, up until a few weeks ago, a plaintiff in antitrust cases against pork, beef, and chicken producers. Since then, Sysco has signed away rights to Carina Ventures in those cases as part of a settlement with Burford.
The court filing in the turkey lawsuit alleges that defendants Butterball, Cargill, Cooper Farms, Farbest Foods, Foster Farms, Hormel Foods Corporation, House of Raeford Farms, Perdue, Prestage, and Tyson Foods “fixed, raised, stabilized, or maintained” the prices of turkeys sold in the U.S. beginning around 2008 and continuing at least through 2016. This, Carina Ventures, alleges was carried out through market reports provide by data analytics firm Agri Stats and its subsidiary Express Markets Inc.
“On a regular basis, Agri Stats distributed these detailed comparative reports, which contained current and forward-looking information, to its subscribers in the turkey industry,” the filing said. “The type of information available in these reports is not the type of information that competitors would provide each other in a normal, competitive market. Through its reports, Agri Stats intentionally shared defendants’ competitively sensitive supply and pricing data with other defendants.”
To read the entire report click here.
