On Friday, the Northern District of Illinois issued a consent order outlining the settlement terms between the parties in U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Kraft Foods, Inc. et al.
The case was initiated in 2015 when the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued Kraft Foods Group, Inc. and Mondeléz Global LLC alleging unlawful manipulation of the national wheat market. After several years of litigation, the parties settled their disputes through a settlement conference with the Northern District of Illinois and a prior consent order settling the case was issued on August 14, 2019.
However, the day after the prior consent order was issued, the CFTC issued a press release and that directly violated the confidentiality requirements of the consent order. Following motions for contempt and sanction by Kraft and an appeal to the Seventh Circuit by the CFTC, the prior consent order was vacated.
Further, on April 15, 2022, the Northern District of Illinois issued an order finding that the CFTC violated the confidentiality requirements of the August 14th consent order. In the order, which Law Street Media previously covered, the Court called the CFTC’s violation “egregious misconduct” and encouraged the parties to reach the current settlement.
In the present order, the parties mutually agreed to settle the case with the CFTC dismissing the suit and ordering the defendants to pay $16 million in civil penalties. Additionally, the order stated that the Northern District of Illinois would retain jurisdiction to ensure that the terms of the consent order are followed.
The defendants are represented by Jenner & Block, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, Mayer Brown and Lynch Thompson.
