The Egg Bandits Made a Thousand Times the Fine They Just Paid for Price Fixing

# Summary Three major U.S. egg producers—Cal-Maine, Versova, and Hickman's Egg Ranch—agreed to settlements with 18 states and the DOJ after being accused of price-fixing from 2022-2025, exploiting avian flu supply disruptions through a documented conspiracy involving CEO communications about manipulating prices upward. Despite economists and industry figures dismissing price-gouging concerns as mere supply-and-demand dynamics, the hard evidence and subsequent price drops after legal action threatened demonstrate the conspiracy's real impact on consumers. The companies' fines were reportedly a thousand times smaller than their profits from the scheme.