FTC alleges Albertsons execs deleted texts concerning Kroger merger

The Federal Trade Commission has filed a court motion alleging that Albertsons executives knowingly deleted relevant text messages during the FTC investigation stemming from the company's proposed merger with Kroger.

According to documents filed with the US District Court in Oregon, the FTC alleges that the following four Albertsons executives continued to delete text messages well after the FTC's investigation began:

• Todd Broderick, Colorado Division President (Plaintiffs’ witness list)
• Carl Huntington, Pacific Northwest Division President (Plaintiffs’ witness list)
• Vivek Sankaran, Chief Executive Officer (Defendants’ witness list)
• Lisa Kinney, VP of Customer and Market Intelligence (Defendants’ witness list)

The allegations follow a discovery by the FTC in October 2023 where they realized a text conversation involving Todd Broderick, Albertsons’ Division President for Colorado, appeared to be missing one side of the conversation.
Attorneys with the FTC wrote, "At least one thread, although stripped of its full context, still reveals one Albertsons executive’s assessment that the merger will likely increase prices.”

Albertsons has responded to the FTC's allegations, asking that the motion be denied in federal court because they claim company executives did not act with intent to deprive another party of the information's use in litigation, which the company argues is essential to a Rule 37 violation for failure to cooperate in discovery.

The filings come amid an ongoing FTC lawsuit blocking the proposed Albertsons-Kroger merger and days after Kroger filed a lawsuit against the government organization for allegedly violating constitutional protections while reviewing the merger where they ask that the merger be decided only in federal court.

The two grocery chains have said if the merger is finalized, they plan to offload hundreds of stores. As a result, Kroger and Albertsons would have 4,414 locations throughout the U.S.