Federal prosecutors revealed text messages and emails showing top egg executives coordinated efforts to inflate prices during the 2022 holiday season. On December 19, 2022, leaders from America's three largest egg producers participated in a call discussing strategies to keep egg prices elevated.

According to the Justice Department's court filing, Hickman's Egg Ranch CEO proposed that industry players bid aggressively on wholesale market exchanges to manipulate a key pricing benchmark. An alleged co-conspirator reportedly told participants to "bid like they vote in Chicago, early and often," aiming to raise the measure that directly influences grocery store prices.

The scheme targeted wholesale egg markets where major producers could coordinate bids to artificially inflate costs that cascade to consumers. Egg prices surged during late 2022, with some regions seeing double-digit percentage increases that strained household budgets during the holiday season.

This price-fixing investigation represents one of the more brazen alleged collusion schemes in recent agricultural markets, potentially affecting millions of American consumers who saw egg prices spike during a critical shopping period.