U.S. Senate candidate's family business found liable in egg price-fixing
Corrections and clarifications: John Rust is the former chair of the board of Rose Acre Farms, Inc. His brother and CEO of the company, Marcus Rust, took over the role of board chair in September.
A verdict in a federal lawsuit over price-fixing by some of the country’s largest egg companies has bled into Indiana’s 2024 U.S. Senate race.
Several food companies and manufacturers filed the lawsuit in 2011 against two trade groups and a collection of some of the largest egg-producing companies in the United States, including Indiana-based Rose Acre Farms, Inc., whose former board chair, John Rust, is running as a Republican for the open seat.
The suit alleged that starting in at least 1999 and continuing until at least 2008, the egg production companies and trade groups conspired to control supply and artificially maintain and increase the price of eggs.
“Privately, Defendants acknowledged that egg prices had increased and attributed those increases to their collective actions taken in furtherance of the conspiracy,” the lawsuit reads.
The federal jury reached a verdict Tuesday in favor of the plaintiffs, deciding that Rose Acre Farms, the other egg producer and the two trade groups were liable in the price-fixing conspiracy.
Rust announced his campaign in August, not long after U.S. Rep Jim Banks got the Indiana Republican Party's endorsement. Rust is also suing the state of Indiana over a law that currently appears to prevent him from getting on the ballot. Rose Acre Farms is the second-largest egg producer in the United States.
Rust, who was the board chair of the company until September when his brother took over the role, declined to comment citing pending adjudication.
Banks, on the other hand, was quick to put out a statement.
"Today's verdict proves John Rust isn't just a conman pretending to be a Republican, he is a crook who exploits working class Hoosiers across Indiana for his own financial gain,” Banks said in it. “While Indiana families struggle to put food on the table, he’s making it even harder to do that."
Rust voted as a Republican in the 2016 primary but as a Democrat in primaries between 2006 and 2012. He said his Democratic votes were for people running for office whom he knew personally but he's always been a conservative Republican and voted for Republicans in the general elections.
The jury will reconvene Nov. 29 to decide the amount of damages to be paid by the defendants.
Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.
Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: John Rust's family business found liable in egg price-fixing conspiracy
