The family behind America’s biggest egg producer quietly cashed out nearly $320 million just as federal investigators started digging into claims they helped rig prices that made your grocery bill skyrocket. It’s a jaw-dropping twist in a saga that has millions of shoppers feeling scrambled.
The Adams family, who ran Mississippi-based Cal-Maine Foods for almost 70 years, sold a chunk of their controlling stake near the company’s all-time stock high, according to a new report from the Financial Times. Shares had roughly doubled between mid-2022 and early 2025, as egg prices, profits, and the company’s market value all soared.
The timing is raising eyebrows. The sale happened after the Justice Department and 17 states alleged that Cal-Maine and rival egg producers coordinated bids and trades for nearly three years to artificially inflate a key pricing benchmark used across the industry. That benchmark affects billions of eggs sold to supermarkets, restaurants, and food-service companies nationwide.
Court documents claim executives at Cal-Maine, Versova, and Hickman’s Egg Ranch allegedly worked together from June 2022 through March 2025 to influence daily egg price quotes published by Urner Barry. The scheme reportedly involved texting each other things like “We are bidding up. Let’s hold it today” and urging each other to post strong bids “early and often.”
Prosecutors also allege that some executives placed premium bids they never intended to fill and arranged private trades above market prices to push the benchmark higher. The alleged coordination reportedly continued into late 2024, with a former Cal-Maine CEO texting Hickman’s chief executive, “Let it rip.”
According to company filings, the Adams family converted their super-voting shares into common stock last April, then sold nearly 3 million shares through a Goldman Sachs-led offering at $92.75 per share. Cal-Maine also agreed to buy back about $50 million worth of shares from family members.
The transactions came after Cal-Maine disclosed in an April 2025 SEC filing that it had received a civil investigative demand from the Justice Department tied to the nationwide antitrust probe.
Cal-Maine has denied any wrongdoing, insisting that egg prices were driven by bird flu and other market forces. A proposed settlement—which requires court approval and contains no admission of liability—would have the companies donate 53 million eggs to food banks, pay $3.3 million to participating states, and accept restrictions on communications with competitors.
The Post has reached out to all parties for comment, including Cal-Maine, the Adams family, and the Justice Department. Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
So, as egg prices continue to crack under scrutiny, one big question remains: who else might have been in on the scramble?
