Consolidated Complaint and Demand for Jury Trial

Case: 1:16-cv-08637 Document #: 3924 Filed: 10/23/20 Page 1 of 399 PageID #:264056 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION IN RE BROILER CHICKEN ANTITRUST Civil Action No. 1:16-cv-08637 LITIGATION _____________________________________ Judge Thomas M. Durkin THIS DOCUMENT RELATES TO: Magistrate Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert All Direct Action Plaintiffs PUBLIC REDACTED VERSION DIRECT ACTION PLAINTIFFS’ CONSOLIDATED COMPLAINT AND DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL Case: 1:16-cv-08637 Document #: 3924 Filed: 10/23/20 Page 2 of 399 PageID #:264057 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 9 II. CHART OF DIRECT ACTION PLAINTIFF CASES ........................................................ 11 III. SUMMARY OF DAP FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS.......................................................... 48 A. Overview of the Broiler Industry ................................................................................ 48 B. Summary of Defendants’ Conspiracy ......................................................................... 50 C. Defendants’ Coordinated Supply Restrictions ............................................................ 51 D. Defendants’ Manipulation of the Georgia Dock Price Index ..................................... 54 E. Defendants’ Bid-Rigging Conduct ............................................................................. 55 IV. PARTIES ............................................................................................................................. 57 A. Plaintiffs ...................................................................................................................... 57 B. Defendants .................................................................................................................. 92 1. Agri Stats ............................................................................................................92 2. Amick ..................................................................................................................93 3. Case .....................................................................................................................93 4. Claxton ................................................................................................................94 5. Fieldale ................................................................................................................95 6. Foster Farms........................................................................................................95 7. George’s ..............................................................................................................96 8. Harrison...............................................................................................................96 9. House of Raeford ................................................................................................96 10. Keystone Foods ...................................................................................................97 11. Koch ....................................................................................................................98 12. Mar-Jac ...............................................................................................................99 13. Mountaire ..........................................................................................................100 i Case: 1:16-cv-08637 Document #: 3924 Filed: 10/23/20 Page 3 of 399 PageID #:264058 14. O.K. Foods ........................................................................................................101 15. Peco ...................................................................................................................101 16. Perdue ...............................................................................................................101 17. Pilgrim’s Pride ..................................................................................................102 18. Sanderson ..........................................................................................................102 19. Simmons ...........................................................................................................103 20. Tyson.................................................................................................................104 21. Wayne ...............................................................................................................105 V. Producer Co-Conspirators .................................................................................................. 106 A. Producer Co-Conspirator Allen Harim ..................................................................... 106 B. Producer Co-Conspirator Marshall Durbin ............................................................... 107 C. The Defendant Family Co-Conspirators ................................................................... 108 1. Koch ..................................................................................................................108 2. Tyson.................................................................................................................113 3. Perdue ...............................................................................................................113 4. Wayne Farms ....................................................................................................114 5. George’s ............................................................................................................115 6. Peco Foods ........................................................................................................116 7. Pilgrim’s Pride ..................................................................................................116 8. Foster Farms......................................................................................................117 9. O.K. Foods ........................................................................................................118 10. House of Raeford ..............................................................................................118 11. Keystone Foods .................................................................................................119 VI. NON-PRODUCER CO-CONSPIRATORS TIP TOP POULTRY, INC., SOUTHERN HENS, INC. AND RABOBANK ................................................................ 119 VII. JURISDICTION AND VENUE ........................................................................................ 121 ii Case: 1:16-cv-08637 Document #: 3924 Filed: 10/23/20 Page 4 of 399 PageID #:264059 VIII. TRADE AND COMMERCE ............................................................................................. 122 IX. FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS REGARDING DEFENDANTS’ UNLAWFUL CONSPIRACY .................................................................................................................. 125 A. Production Cutting .................................................................................................... 128 1. In an Early Phase of their Conspiracy, Defendants Departed from Their Historical Practice by Collectively Reducing Breeder Flocks in Unprecedented Amounts ...................................................................................128 2. Defendants’ Executives Publicly Decried the Effect of Oversupply on “Our Industry,” Telling their Competitors that Unified Action Was Necessary ..........................................................................................................130 B. Defendants Begin to Cut Production in Concert....................................................... 133 C. Defendants’ First Round of Chicken Production Cuts Included Unprecedented Reductions to Chicken Breeder Flocks ..................................................................... 145 D. Defendants Continued Their Conspiracy With a Second Massive Breeder Flock Cull in 2011 .................................................................................................... 148 E. Drastically-Reduced Breeder Flocks Boosted Chicken Prices and Raised Defendants’ Profits to Record Levels ....................................................................... 161 F. Defendants Utilized Urner Barry to Assist Them Capitalize on Their Supply Reduction Efforts ...................................................................................................... 168 G. Defendants Capitalized on Their Prior Actual Reduction of Broilers to Coordinate a False Supply Reduction ....................................................................... 172 H. The Conspiracy Also Included the Collusive and Fraudulent Manipulation of the Georgia Dock Price Index ................................................................................... 173 I. The PMN, the Georgia Dock, and the PMN Advisory Committee Were Created and Sustained for the Benefit of Georgia Dock Defendants and the Broiler Industry ..................................................................................................................... 181 J. The Georgia Poultry Federation’s Role in Creating and Sustaining the Georgia Dock for the Benefit of Defendants and the Broiler Industry ................................... 187 K. The Georgia Dock Became Ripe for Manipulation .................................................. 188 L. Regulatory Investigation and Demise of the Georgia Dock ....................................

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