Archer Daniels Fires Executive, Levies Charges

Archer Daniels Midland Co., the target of a criminal antitrust investigation, said Monday it has fired the executive who turned informer for the FBI and secretly recorded several executive meetings.

Mark E. Whitacre, president of ADM’s Bio-Products Division, was fired for stealing $2.5 million from the company over a period of several years, the company alleged in a statement.

The Justice Department opened a preliminary criminal investigation of ADM’s allegations against Whitacre late last week, said department spokesman John Russell.

Whitacre’s attorney had said he expected the executive to be fired on trumped-up charges. Neither he nor Whitacre could be reached for comment.

Whitacre “was terminated, for cause, including the theft of at least $2.5 million from the company at a time when he was acting as an undercover agent for the United States government. The matter has been referred to the Department of Justice,” ADM’s short statement said.

Whitacre, 38, recorded business meetings and provided other information beginning in 1992 to aid a U.S. Justice Department investigation into the food and feed additives industry.

Whitacre, who joined ADM in 1989, was named a corporate vice president in 1992 in addition to heading up the company’s BioProducts operation. The division makes two of the three products whose marketing is being investigated for possible anti-competitive practices.

The company is estimated to control as much as 50 percent of the worldwide market for lysine, an amino acid that speeds up growth in swine and poultry. In addition, ADM has significant portions of the citric acid and high-fructose corn syrup markets. The corn syrup is a primary ingredient in soft drinks.

ADM executives were subpoenaed and offices searched by FBI agents on June 27. Since then, several major producers of these additives have been subpoenaed.