The United States Justice Department has dropped some, but not all, charges of poultry-industry price-fixing after two hung juries.
Those who no longer face charges are Timothy Mulrenin, who worked at Tyson foods at the time; William Kantola, who was in sales at Koch Foods Inc, Jimmie Little, a former salesman at Pilgrim’s Pride, Gary Brian Roberts, who was at Tyson as a sales executive at the time, and Rickie Blake, who was at George’s Inc.
This was done “in an effort to streamline the case and conserve the resources of the court, the parties, and the public,” the department said in a court filing.
The remaining five defendants are two former Pilgrim’s Pride chief executives and one salesman, as well as two Claxton Poultry Farms executives.
The court documents allege industry executives conspired to fix chicken prices from 2012 through 2019.
