Pilgrim’s Pride has replaced its CEO as he prepares to face price fixing charges. The company announced in June that its chief executive, Jayson Penn, was taking a leave of absence to focus on his defense after he was indicted, and named Chief Financial Officer Fabio Sandri to lead the company in the interim.
Sandri’s move to CEO was made permanent this week and Pilgrim’s Pride said in a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that Penn is no longer with the company.
Penn is one of four current and former executives indicted in June on charges of fixing prices on chickens.
A federal grand jury in Colorado found that executives from Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., based in Greeley, Colorado, and Claxton Poultry Farms in Georgia, conspired to fix prices and rig bids for broiler chickens from at least 2012 to 2017.
Penn has pleaded not guilty.
