U.S. Grand Jury Indicts Pilgrim's Pride Executives for Chicken Price Fixing Conspiracy

A U.S. federal grand jury has indicted four current and former executives at Pilgrim's Pride Corp, one of the largest U.S. poultry producers, for their roles in a price fixing conspiracy for chicken products, the Department of Justice said on Thursday.

Koch Foods, an Illinois chicken company, was also indicted for allegedly being part of a conspiracy to fix the prices of broiler chicken products, the department said. Koch did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The four Pilgrims Pride executives indicted were Jason McGuire, a former executive vice president of sales, and Timothy Stiller, a former general manager, along with sales executives Wesley Tucker and Justin Gay, the department said.

Pilgrim's Pride itself pleaded guilty in February and was sentenced to pay a $107.9 million fine to settle federal charges it conspired to fix chicken prices and passed on the costs to consumers and other purchasers.

 (Reporting by Jason Lange and Diane Bartz, Editing by Franklin Paul and Steve Orlofsky)