Omeed Assefi is an attorney who served as acting assistant attorney general for the U.S. Justice Department's Antitrust Division. He also served as a deputy assistant attorney general and worked on federal competition enforcement. He previously prosecuted violent crime as an assistant U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia and was chief of staff of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.
Role at the time: Former acting assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division
Condemned
Statement summary
Omeed Assefi, who led the Justice Department probe, says the producers reached a point where they no longer wanted to compete and were coordinating to ensure outcomes that benefited them and not the consumer.
“They reach a point where they no longer want to compete, and they’re coordinating to ensure outcomes that benefit all of them and then don’t benefit the consumer,”
DOJ alleges coordinated bidding inflated egg-price benchmarks. Cal-Maine denies wrongdoing and price effects. The proposed consent judgment contains no admission, while separate debate concerns the conduct's economic importance and the remedy.
