The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division recently announced a proposed settlement with Agri Stats, Inc. regarding allegations that Agri Stats unlawfully helped meat processors exchange competitively sensitive information.[1] The settlement, filed in the District of Minnesota, requires Agri Stats to halt certain data-sharing practices that the DOJ alleges suppressed competition and increased meat prices.[2]
In its suit, the DOJ alleged that Agri Stats collected detailed information from meat processors and shared that data through granular reports.[3] The DOJ alleged this access to non-public information allowed competitors to align their pricing and production decisions.[4] This competitor data-sharing was a “red flag” for competitive harm, according to Acting Assistant Attorney General Omeed A. Assefi.[5]
The settlement imposes significant restrictions on Agri Stats, which must stop providing non-public pricing and sales data, as well as granular production and cost reports, and must make remaining information available to market participants.[6] The settlement also proposes a court-appointed monitor to oversee compliance, including the implementation of an antitrust compliance program.[7]
The Agri Stats settlement reflects the DOJ’s increased focus on information sharing between competitors, especially where facilitated by third parties. The DOJ has noted that even aggregated or anonymized benchmarks can raise concerns where data is sufficiently granular, recent, or able to be de-anonymized.[8] This comes after the DOJ withdrew its previous “safe harbor” guidance in 2023 on information sharing.[9]
A recent speech by Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Daniel Glad highlights the risks of information sharing.[10] Glad warned that algorithmic pricing tools can result in criminal liability when competitors knowingly share sensitive, non-public data that is used to set their respective prices.[11] He noted that the main issue is the existence of an agreement between competitors, which he described as the “rim” of a hub-and-spoke conspiracy.[12] When competitors know their data is used to coordinate pricing, “the door . . . to criminal enforcement is open.”[13]
These remarks do not come as a surprise given the DOJ’s enforcement posture, including its litigation against RealPage.[14] In the RealPage litigation, the government alleged that non-public data shared on a public platform gave rise to a hub-and-spoke conspiracy where that data was used to generate pricing recommendations.[15] RealPage’s settlement with the DOJ required significant changes to RealPage’s software to prevent real-time use of non-public data, limit model training to historic and backward-looking non-public data, and ensure data sharing was limited to state-level data broader than the markets identified in the complaint.[16]
Together, the DOJ’s recent actions reflect that antitrust risk increases when companies share non-public information that is recent and granular through third parties. That risk is particularly acute where the data-sharing leads to price or output recommendations. The Agri Stats settlement and Glad’s remarks indicate that companies engaging in such data sharing may face the risk of criminal or civil litigation.
Companies using such third-party platforms for benchmarking, data analytics, or algorithmic pricing should ensure their decision making is independent, assess whether sensitive non-public data is being used or shared, and maintain active antitrust compliance programs. Given the DOJ’s increased antitrust enforcement, antitrust review of pricing and data tools is a necessity, not a formality.
Wiggin and Dana routinely advises clients in connection with the full range of antitrust matters, including potential transactions and representations before the FTC, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, and offices of state attorneys general. Wiggin and Dana also regularly advises clients concerning evolving antitrust and regulatory landscapes.
[1] U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Justice Department Requires Agri Stats to End Exchange of Competitively Sensitive Information Among Nation’s Largest Meat Processors that Suppressed Competition and Increased Prices for Decades (May 7, 2026), https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-requires-agri-stats-end-exchange-competitively-sensitive-information.
[2] Proposed Final Judgment, ECF No. 742-2, United States of America v. Agri Stats, Inc., No. 0:23-cv-03009-JRT-JFD (D. Minn. May 7, 2026).
[3] Second Am. Compl., ECF No. 50, United States of America v. Agri Stats, Inc., No. 0:23-cv-03009-JRT-JFD (D. Minn. Nov. 15, 2023).
[4] Id.
[5] U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Justice Department Requires Agri Stats to End Exchange of Competitively Sensitive Information Among Nation’s Largest Meat Processors that Suppressed Competition and Increased Prices for Decades (May 7, 2026), https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-requires-agri-stats-end-exchange-competitively-sensitive-information.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Second Am. Compl., ECF No. 50, United States of America v. Agri Stats, Inc., No. 0:23-cv-03009-JRT-JFD (D. Minn. Nov. 15, 2023).
[9] Wiggin & Dana LLP, The Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. DOJ Antitrust Division During the Biden Administration Have Significantly Ramped Up Antitrust Enforcement: Non-Antitrust Lawyers Beware! (Oct. 9, 2023), https://www.wigginblogofreason.com/2023/10/the-federal-trade-commission-and-the-u-s-doj-antitrust-division-during-the-biden-administration-have-significantly-ramped-up-antitrust-enforcement-non-antitrust-lawyers-beware/.
[10] Matthew Perlman, DOJ Open to Criminal Enforcement Against Pricing Software, Law360 (May 15, 2026), https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2478270?nl_pk=8195412b-70f7-4634-b8f1-295eb9f5927b.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] Id.
[14] United States of America v. RealPage, Inc., No. 1:24-cv-00710 (M.D.N.C.).
[15] Compl., ECF No. 1, United States of America v. RealPage, Inc., No. 1:24-cv-00710 (M.D.N.C. Aug. 23, 2024).
[16] U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Justice Department Requires RealPage to End the Sharing of Competitively Sensitive Information and Alignment of Pricing Among Competitors (Nov. 24, 2025), https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-requires-realpage-end-sharing-competitively-sensitive-information-and