French 'Yogurt Cartel' Caught Fixing Prices

France's nefarious 'yogurt cartel' has been hit with an enormous fine for fixing prices on raw dairy products and driving up costs for French citizens who love dairy products.

According to The Local, France's competition authority on Thursday announced that 11 dairy companies had been hit with a fine of €192.7 for years of illegal price fixing. The competition authority reportedly claims that the 11 companies had been colluding in secret in a "highly organized cartel" to set wholesale prices for raw dairy products artificially high. The price-fixing shenanigans allegedly took place from 2006 to 2012.

The Lactalis Nestle group, a joint venture between Nestle and the French dairy giant Lactalis, was hit with the biggest portion of the fine and is expected to pay €56.1 million. The company says it will be appealing the decision.

Yoplait reportedly escaped sanction by being the first company to flip on the other members and report the price fixing collusion to the authorities.