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...early as his first year at ADM, Whitacre told FORTUNE in a first-person account published last week, he began hearing from other managers that price fixing was an accepted practice at the com pany. His concern grew in February 1992, when Randall and vice chairman Michael ("Mick") Andreas, the son of the chairman, told Whitacre to begin working with Terrance Wilson, the president of the corn-processing division. Wilson, they said, would instruct him "about how ADM does business.'' But colleagues had warned Whitacre to be wary of Wilson because he was said to be involved in the price...
Wilson and Whitacre were soon discussing the price of lysine in talks with representatives of ADM's two biggest rivals in the field, the Japanese companies Ajinomoto and Kyowa Hakko. The Japanese were in a jam because prices had plunged from about $1.30 per lb. before ADM entered the market to about 60 cents per lb. When the group gathered at a Nikko Hotel conference room in Mexico City, Wilson stated that the price drop had created an unacceptable situation: buyers of lysine were getting a $200 million break at the expense of ADM and the Japanese producers. "The competitor...
...price-fixing deals were cut at the Mexico session. But a series of odd, unrelated events rapidly transformed Whitacre into an FBI informer. Whitacre told FORTUNE that the FBI showed up at ADM's door at the behest of Dwayne Andreas, but not in search of price fixing. The agency was called in because Andreas suspected that a saboteur was contaminating batches of lysine in ADM's fermenting process. Whitacre says agents soon questioned him about the problem and that he was instructed by Mick Andreas to lie about a few details, including which phone line he used to conduct...
...blurted the truth to special agent Brian Shepard, "a very trustworthy guy" who ran the Decatur office. Whitacre soon agreed to carry a recorder hooked to his inside coat pocket while working in the office and to tote a briefcase rigged with a taping device to sessions between ADM representatives and those of other companies. He also tipped the FBI to meetings where prices might be discussed with representatives of other companies so the agents could videotape the proceedings. "It's amazing, some of the stuff that came up on the tapes," Whitacre said. "There were meetings where agree ments...
Whitacre's cover was blown after the FBI raided ADM offices on June 27. By prearrangement, agents interviewed Whit acre along with other executives to make it appear that he was no different. The FBI warned Whitacre to get an attorney without ties to ADM. But the advice was given casually, and Whitacre did not keep it in mind. As a result, Whitacre spent four hours talking to attorney John Dowd, whom ADM had hired. The next morning, Whitacre said in his magazine account, "someone at ADM called me and said, 'Hey, Dwayne told me your attorney just told...