The Department of Justice and 17 states accused Cal-Maine Foods, Versova, and Hickman's Egg Ranch of price manipulation. The companies settled. They're paying $3.3 million in cash and 53 million eggs.
Fifty-three million eggs.
The DOJ accepted payment in the form of the product these companies were accused of overcharging for. This is like settling a cocaine trafficking case with cocaine. The government looked at this deal and said yes, we will take delivery of 53 million eggs, that seems like a reasonable way to resolve a price-fixing investigation.
Cal-Maine is the largest egg producer in the United States. They got caught allegedly manipulating prices during a period when everyone was screaming about egg inflation. Now they're handing over enough eggs to feed a small nation. The eggs will be donated to food banks, which means the government brokered a deal where the punishment for overcharging consumers is giving away the thing you overcharged for.
Versova and Hickman's Egg Ranch are also involved. Three companies. 53 million eggs. Nobody went to jail. Nobody lost their business license. They wrote a check and backed up the egg truck.
Retail traders saw egg prices spike and thought it was inflation or supply chain issues or bird flu. They adjusted their grocery budgets. They complained on Twitter. They never once considered buying Cal-Maine stock when eggs hit $7 a dozen, because that would have required them to connect a news story to a stock ticker, which is apparently too much to ask.
The settlement works out to about six cents per egg plus the cash. The DOJ valued justice at six cents per egg. Cal-Maine's stock is up 12% this year, because the market does not care about your eggs or your outrage or the fact that you paid $10 for a dozen organic free-range whatever-the-f*ck last year while these guys allegedly rigged the game.
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