Ray-Ban and Oakley eyewear brands were accused of conspiring with rivals to increase prices by as much as 1,000 percent.
EssilorLuxottica SA is the troublemaker and prior enforcer of the price-fixing scheme in the Washington market, constituting unlawful deals with Frames for America Inc. and For Eyes Optical Co., according to a consumer antitrust complaint filed on Friday as a suggested class action.
The complaint also alleges that Essilor Luxottica’s vision benefits subsidiary, EyeMed, has formed anticompetitive deals with thousands of eyecare providers to conduct millions of customers into buying the alliance’s over-priced eyewear.
The customers claim the illegal conspiracy was concealed by an arrangement between the firms to keep the terms of their deals from being publicly revealed.
20 other makers of eyewear were named as defendants in the lawsuit.
