Convenience store chain 7-Eleven and its parent company have agreed to pay $4.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging the company violated a 2018 consent order, the FTC said in a Dec. 8 statement.
“The $4.5 million penalty marks the largest civil penalty ever collected in an FTC case involving a prior-notice violation. It is also the largest negotiated settlement of any order violation in the FTC Bureau of Competition’s history,” the agency said.
In 2018, 7-Eleven entered into a consent order with the FTC to resolve antitrust claims made by the agency alleging that the company’s acquisition of 1,100 retail fuel outlets from energy company Sunoco would “harm competition and raise fuel prices for consumers in 76 local markets.”…