Announced in a Justice Department press release on Tuesday, the complaint — filed in Iowa’s Northern District Court — alleges that the defendants conspired to artificially inflate the daily price quotations of Urner Barry Publications, a market reporting company.
Cracked that one wide open did they ?
Urner Barry’s publications impact prices that restaurants, grocery stores and other businesses pay for eggs across the country.
The defendants include Mississippi-headquartered Cal-Maine Foods Inc., Arizona-headquartered Hickman’s Egg Ranch Inc., Iowa-headquartered Versova Holdings LLC, Centrum Valley Holdings LLC and Versova Management Cooperative; all produce and sell eggs to grocery stores, restaurants and other businesses that ultimately sell or provide eggs to American consumers.
According to the complaint, the defendants conspired to inflate Urner Barry’s price quotations by agreeing to: submit a lot of bids, submit bids that were unlikely to result in executed trades, cause several defendants to bid to alert Urner Barry that market participants needed to buy eggs and deliver trades at premium prices.
The defendants, along with other egg producers, also bid to obtain eggs on spot markets, including the Egg Clearinghouse, an exchange that helps determine and establish the market value for eggs and egg products.