DaVita, former CEO indicted on labor market collusion charges

(Reuters) — Dialysis provider DaVita Inc. and its former CEO Kent Thiry were indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver on charges they conspired with competitors not to hire each other’s key employees, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday.

DaVita allegedly had an agreement with Surgical Care Affiliates LLC, which was charged in January. The case is pending, the department said.

DaVita and Thiry allegedly had an anti-poaching agreement with SCA from 2012 to 2017 that sought to prevent each company from wooing away each other’s senior-level employees, the department said. It had another, similar agreement with another, unnamed company that ran from 2017 to 2019, the department said.

DaVita did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The indictments came as the Biden administration has sought to implement a sweeping executive order aimed at promoting competition in the U.S. economy, including the labor market.