Other LanguagesSEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced today a chicken producer named in an antitrust lawsuit will pay the Attorney General’s Office a total of $725,000 to resolve claims against it. Today’s announcement is the first resolution of Ferguson’s lawsuit against 19 chicken producers regarding a widespread illegal conspiracy to inflate and manipulate prices, rig contract bids and coordinate industry supply reductions to maximize profits. The lawsuit also names an industry data reporting service accused of assisting in the conspiracy.
SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that, as a result of his office’s price-fixing investigation, Amazon will shut down the “Sold by Amazon” program nationwide.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced today he has filed a lawsuit against 19 chicken producers accusing them of a wide-ranging illegal conspiracy to inflate and manipulate prices, rig contract bids and coordinate industry supply reductions to maximize profits. Ferguson’s lawsuit also names an industry data reporting service accused of assisting in the conspiracy.
BELLINGHAM — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that, as a result of his antitrust consent decree, Bellingham Anesthesia Associates (BAA) must end its illegal dominance of the local health care market and pay $110,000 in costs and fees. BAA used unlawful non-compete clauses and exclusive contracts with area medical providers to take about 90 percent of the market share for physician-administered anesthesia services in Whatcom and Skagit counties. This legally enforceable agreement requires BAA to cease illegally requiring physicians to sign three-year non-compete contracts.
OLYMPIA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today filed an antitrust lawsuit against technology giant Google for using anticompetitive practices to insulate its app distribution service, Google Play Store, from competition — forcing Android app developers to raise app prices for users in order to pay Google’s exorbitant fees. These practices have targeted all levels of the smartphone ecosystem, including device manufacturers, network operators and app developers.
SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced a judge ruled that StarKist, a canned tuna manufacturer, engaged in a price-fixing scheme from November 2011 through December 2013. In a prior and unrelated federal case against StarKist, a federal judge sentenced the company to pay a $100 million criminal fine — the maximum allowed by law — for its role in a nationwide conspiracy to manipulate the price of canned tuna to benefit the company and its executives.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson today partnered with a bipartisan coalition of 38 attorneys general to file a federal antitrust lawsuit against Google. The lawsuit asserts that the technology giant illegally leverages its dominance in the online search and search advertising markets to stifle competing platforms, drive advertisers away from rival search engines, and limit competing specialized sellers’ ability to bring customers directly to their sites from general Google search results.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson today filed an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook asserting the company formed an illegal monopoly in the personal social networking market. The company formed this monopoly by buying or constraining potential competitors, usually mobile apps, in their infancy — including rivals Instagram and WhatsApp.
SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that Christopher Lischewski, formerly the CEO of Bumble Bee brand tuna, will pay $100,000 to Washington for his role in a canned tuna price-fixing scheme that artificially inflated the price of tuna from the three largest national brands: Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea and StarKist.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that the consumer protection and other affirmative litigation divisions of the Attorney General’s Office have recovered more than $650 million for Washingtonians and state and tribal governments since January 2013. This represents a return on investment of $35 for every $1 the state has spent on funding for this work.