- Major egg producers Cal-Maine, Versova, and Hickman's were accused of price-fixing from 2022-2025, using the avian flu crisis as cover to artificially inflate egg prices.
- The conspiracy involved manipulating the Urner Barry price index by submitting fake bids and sham transactions on the Egg Clearinghouse to create false demand signals, influencing wholesale contract prices.
- Despite clear evidence from emails and texts, the settlement resulted in only $3 million in total penalties and egg donations, with no admission of wrongdoing, allowing companies to avoid follow-on civil suits.
- Cal-Maine profited over $3 billion from the scheme, paying penalties roughly 1,000 times less than their gains, highlighting how crime can be financially rewarding with minimal legal consequences.
- The case illustrates the failure of elites, economists, and media to acknowledge price-gouging, instead attributing price hikes solely to supply and demand, while antitrust action ultimately led to lower prices after the investigation.