MINNEAPOLIS — Major food manufacturers including Frito-Lay, Grupo Bimbo, General Mills, Mars, Nestlé USA, Hershey, Kraft Heinz and Mondelēz filed a federal class action lawsuit July 24 in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota alleging sugar producers unlawfully fixed refined sugar prices since Jan. 1, 2019.
The complaint names ASR Group International, American Sugar Refining, Domino Foods, United Sugars Corp. US Sugar, Michigan Sugar Co. and Louis Dreyfus LLC as defendants. Commodity Information, Inc. and its sole principal, Richard Wistisen, are also named, with plaintiffs contending the defendants colluded with Commodity Information to influence pricing outcomes.
The lawsuit seeks damages and injunctive relief, demanding a jury trial. Plaintiffs allege they purchased substantial volumes of refined sugar directly from one or more defendants at artificially inflated prices.
This case parallels an earlier class action filed March 14, 2024, by KPH Healthcare Services that was subsequently consolidated with related sugar antitrust actions and transferred to the same Minnesota court. In October 2025, the court granted several defendants' motions to dismiss the consolidated cases, finding plaintiffs lacked sufficient evidence of an explicit price-fixing agreement and ruling that disseminating price information alone does not violate the Sherman Act's prohibition on anti-competitive agreements.
The current lawsuit must overcome that evidentiary bar by presenting direct evidence of a coordinated conspiracy to manipulate prices rather than relying solely on information-sharing patterns.
Mariane Martinez, ASR Group spokesperson, said: "The facts don't support their claims, and we will absolutely prove that as we defend this case." Other defendants did not comment by press time.
