Brazilian meat giant JBS and its US subsidiaries have agreed to pay $83.5m to settle claims that it conspired to fix beef prices in the US.
According to the settlement proposal filed at the US District Court in Minnesota on Friday (31 January), a group of cattle ranchers and farming groups had alleged that JBS had “conspired to fix, depress, suppress, or stabilise the price of fed cattle” bought in the US.
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This, in turn, they said, was done “to manipulate the price of live cattle futures and options traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange”, which violates several US competition laws.
The original lawsuit was filed by the plaintiffs at the District of Minnesota in 2019.
In a statement sent to Just Food yesterday (4 February), the company’s US unit said it had agreed to paying $83.5m to settle the lawsuit with the plaintiffs, while maintaining the allegations “are frivolous and without merit”.
The settlement is still subject to court approval, JBS said.
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By GlobalData“JBS maintains that the claims asserted in the litigation are frivolous and without merit. By entering this agreement, JBS admits no wrongdoing for the claims alleged.
“This decision is in the best interest of the company, and JBS will continue to vigorously defend its interests against the remaining plaintiffs.”
According to the court document, plaintiffs achieved the current settlement “following years of hard-fought litigation and arm’s length settlement negotiations with JBS”.
The proposed agreement would settle claims from ranchers who sold cattle to JBS between 2015 and 2020, and individuals and entities who participated in live cattle futures trading on the Chicago Mercentile exchange.
The settlement also request JBS to cooperate with the claimants when they pursue connected lawsuits against the rest of the defendants in the case, which a Reuters report has indicated includes Tyson Foods, Cargill and National Beef.
Last October, fast-food giant McDonald’s had filed a lawsuit against these same meat companies.
The business accused agri-food major Cargill, the US subsidiaries of Brazilian meat giant JBS and local meat producers Tyson Foods and National Beef of conspiring to limit beef supplies. McDonald’s claimed the alleged action forced the Big Mac maker to pay inflated prices for meat.
