Word: adm
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...which could be heartening to three disgraced executives of the Archer Daniels Midland Co. who were charged with price fixing last week. Under indictment are Michael Andreas, who is the son of chairman Dwayne Andreas and on leave as executive vice president of ADM; Terrance Wilson, who ran the company's corn-processing division; and, surprisingly, whistle blower Mark Whitacre. Although Whitacre was the mole at meetings in which price fixing was allegedly discussed, his work did not shield him from charges. It did no doubt figure in ADM's admission of guilt and payment of a $100 million penalty...
...Justice Department's case hinged on a company executive turned FBI informant, Mark Whitacre, who secretly taped meetings that allegedly included the younger Andreas, Wilson and executives of rival companies. "The competitor is our friend; the customer is our enemy" was a favorite saying around ADM, according to Whitacre. Such talk ended when the feds raided ADM's Decatur, Illinois, headquarters in June 1995. Although the company fired Whitacre and charged him with embezzlement, which he denies, and although Whitacre later attempted suicide, the case was strong enough to force ADM's directors to capitulate...
...plea bargain was a public humiliation for Dwayne Andreas, a political insider who has funneled millions in corporate contributions to Republican and Democratic candidates. Andreas has particularly close ties to Bob Dole, who has used ADM corporate planes for campaign trips and vacationed with Andreas in Bal Harbour, Florida; Dole and his wife Elizabeth purchased an apartment there from Andreas. Dole has championed myriad agricultural subsidies that have benefited ADM. With Dole's support, Washington has paid out more than $6 billion in subsidies since 1980 for ethanol, the corn-based fuel that ADM makes; it holds a 65% share...
Andreas had to face down a shareholder revolt last week at the ADM annual meeting in Decatur. Declaring that "as Harry Truman said, 'The buck stops with me,'" the chairman apologized for the scandals. Nevertheless, the settlement put paid to an era at ADM, which Andreas and his family have dominated for 30 years. It appears unlikely that Michael Andreas will ever succeed his father. "Even if this is not the end of ADM," says a close business associate of Dwayne's, "this could well be the end of the Andreas reign...
...company, last week's penalty represented little more than peanuts--or soybeans--and was a good deal, considering that ADM benefited financially in the form of higher prices. The company has $1.3 billion on hand to pay inconveniences like a $100 million fine. ADM's stock even rose $1.13 a share, to $21.75, on news of the penalty--which Wall Street had expected to be much higher--and finished the week at $21.50, raising the company's market value some $500 million. By that accounting, it can't be said that crime doesn't pay, only that...