AP Jan. 16, 1997
A federal grand jury Wednesday returned a sweeping 45-count criminal indictment against Mark Whitacre, a former vice president of ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND and the chief informant in a major antitrust investigation of the giant agribusiness concern.
Whitacre was charged with wire fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property, money laundering, forfeiture, conspiracy, obstructuring of justice and filing false income-tax returns.
The indictment charges Whitacre with stealing more than $9 million from ADM from the spring of 1991 through November 1995. Whitacre served as president of ADM's Bioproducts division and as a vice president of the parent company until the summer of 1995.
Whitacre allegedly laundered the money through foreign and domestic companies and bank accounts, including accounts established in the Cayman Islands, Germany, Hong Kong and Switzerland.
Whitacre acted as a government informant for three years in a federal probe of price-fixing in the global market of the feed additive lysine, and secretly taped company meetings in his cooperation with federal investgators. ADM pleaded guilty to price-fixing last fall and agreed to pay $100 million in fines, the largest criminal antitrust fine in history.
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is the king of corporate welfare, enjoying a bevy of federal subsidies and generous tax breaks. One enormous subsidy benefits producers of ethanol, an alcohol-based fuel. ADM controls about 50% of that market. And, in another taxpayer giveaway, analysts note that every dollar of ADM's profit from corn sweeteners ultimately costs taxpayers $10 in sugar subsidies!
Not surprisingly, ADM is a multimillion-dollar campaign contributor. In addition to more than $4 milion doled out to congressional candidates since the 1970's, ADM has given millions in soft money to the political parties during the past decade.
Source: Common Cause Newsletter,