Mark Whitacre

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Mark E Whitacre (born May 1, 1957) was the former President of the BioProducts Division of the Fortune 500 company, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), that became a corporate whistleblower and went undercover for the FBI in the mid-1990s to expose a massive international price-fixing cartel.[1][2] Former New York Times reporter, Kurt Eichenwald, stated in his award-winning book, The Informant, that the criminal prosecution would never have been launched had it not been for Mark Whitacre, who agreed to become a mole for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and be wired for 2 & 1/2 years.[3] As a result of Whitacre's work, stated Eichenwald, the FBI collected hundreds of hours of video and audio tapes documenting crimes by executives from around the world fixing the prices of food additives. “The Informant”[1] and a second book titled, "Rats in the Grain"[2], by lawyer James Lieber, detailed the investigation and prosecution of ADM and some of its executives in "one of the best documented corporate crimes in recent memory".[4] As a result of Whitacre's unprecedented assistance, ADM paid a record $100 million fine to the government and hundreds of millions of dollars [$400 million alone for one product] to the customers that ADM stole from during the price-fixing scheme.[5][6] [7] [8] However, Whitacre did not tell the FBI everything. For example, after 2 & 1/2 years of FBI undercover work, Whitacre was charged with committing a $9 million fraud that occurred during the same time period that he was working for the FBI.[9][10] [11] Whitacre was defrauding $9 million from his company at the same time that he was secretly working for the FBI and taping his co-workers.[1] His technique involved setting up a bogus offshore company, having it send ADM a fictitious invoice, and then paying off the bill under his own signature. No sooner did an army of federal agents stage a dramatic raid on ADM's Illinois headquarters on June 27, 1995, than the company hit back with damning evidence that the government's star witness was a criminal himself. In turn, Whitacre received a federal prison sentence that was three-times longer than the white-collar criminals that he exposed.[12][13] Both authors, Eichenwald and Lieber, and several FBI agents adamantly disagreed with the harsh ten-year sentence of Whitacre.[1][2][3] Eichenwald referred to Whitacre's sentence as a "law enforcement failure".[1]


The ADM case created a major controversy within the U.S. Department of Justice and Whitacre was supported by some officials and demonized by others.[2] Two books have been published about Whitacre by authors that conducted several years of extensive investigation.[14] [15] The Informant, by Kurt Eichenwald, portrayed Whitacre as a complex figure that was simultaneously working very hard for the FBI as one of the best and most effective undercover cooperating witnesses that the U.S. Government ever had, but also working even harder for himself by committing a $9 million greed-induced white-collar fraud during the same time period that Whitacre was working for the FBI.[1] Eichenwald reported that Whitacre lied extensively to the FBI in his failed attempt to save himself, that these deceptions made the FBI investigation much more difficult, and that Whitacre was suffering from manic-depression, [also known as bipolar disorder], according to two doctors that treated Whitacre for several years.[1] The Informant also focused on Whitacre's meltdown and bizarre behavior that occurred from the pressures of working for the FBI from 1992 to 1995.[16] [17] For example, according to Eichenwald, Whitacre became extremely manic, stopped sleeping during many nights, was reported to be riding horses numerous times after 2:00 AM, and was seen using a gas leaf blower on his driveway during a thunder storm after midnight in 1994.[1] Whitacre attempted suicide a few months later. Kurt Eichenwald concluded that Whitacre's sentence was excessive and unjust and that the FBI would not have had a high-level executive such as Whitacre as a cooperating witness to begin with if it was not for Whitacre's manic-depressive or bipolar tendencies.[18] Eichenwald, two prosecutors, an FBI agent, and Mark Whitacre [during his incarceration] conducted an extensive radio interview with National Public Radio (NPR) on September 15, 2000 about the ADM case.[19] Eichenwald stated, in the NPR interview, that Whitacre’s excessive sentence was a “law enforcement failure”.[1]

The other book, Rats in the Grain, by lawyer James B. Lieber, focused more on ADM's price-fixing trial and painted a much different picture about Whitacre than Eichenwald. Lieber portrayed Whitacre as an American hero that was overpowered by ADM’s vast political clout.[20] James Lieber presented abundant evidence to build a solid case that the U.S. Department of Justice often subjugated itself to ADM's political power and well-connected attorneys in the prosecution of informant Mark Whitacre for fraud and tax evasion. Lieber reported that Whitacre was the highest-level executive ever to turn whistleblower in U.S. history, and that Whitacre never attempted any type of fraud during all of his years of employment prior to ADM. Lieber concluded that much of Whitacre's criminal activity and bizarre behavior were a direct result from the pressures that were placed on Whitacre by the FBI, and that Whitacre's manic-depression became more problematic as a result of working undercover for the FBI.[2] Lieber, in “Rats in the Grain”, also pointed out that the FBI had much information indicating that ADM former Chairman Dwayne Andreas and former President James Randall knew about crimes going on throughout the company. Yet, the FBI was not allowed to question them – ADM's former highest ranking executives. Lieber especially pointed out, and Eichenwald appeared to ignore, that in 1996, “Mr. Dwayne Andreas told the Washington Post that he had known about Whitacre's frauds for three years”.[21] However, Whitacre was only fired and turned into the federal authorities after ADM learned that he had been working as a mole for the FBI. If he knew about it for three years, why didn't he fire Whitacre immediately, asked Lieber? Lieber concluded that fraud was an accepted practice at ADM during the 1990s.[2] ADM has been under new management for several years. Based on this fact and that other executives committed frauds at ADM [i.e., financial fraud by a former treasurer and also technology thefts by others] and based on the fact that ADM continued to support them, Lieber concluded that ADM would have not turned Whitacre into the authorities if he had not worked for the FBI.[22] Both books concluded that Whitacre’s lengthy prison sentence was unjust when one takes into account Whitacre's unprecedented cooperation on a much larger criminal case and his mental instability at the time.[23] [24]


Whitacre served 8 & 1/2 years in a federal prison camp for fraud and tax evasion.[3] Some current and former FBI and Department of Justice officials have continued to support Whitacre and are attempting to obtain a Presidential Pardon for him in return for his substantial assistance on one of the largest price-fixing cases in history.[2][3] Many executives in private industry have also continued to support him and Whitacre is currently the COO & President of a California biotech company.[3] A Warner Brothers' feature film is currently in development about Mark Whitacre. The film will be directed by Steven Soderbergh and Matt Damon will play Mark Whitacre.[25]


Contents

[edit] "The Mark Whitacre Story"

Dr. Mark E Whitacre grew up in a middle class family in southern Ohio. He was the 1975 Senior Class President at the Little Miami High School that is located in a very small town, north of Cincinnati, called Morrow.[4] Fifteen years later, including eight years of college and receiving a Doctorate (Ph.D.) from an Ivy League university, Whitacre became the President of the BioProducts Division for a Fortune 100 company known as Archer Daniels Midland (ADM).[1] [ADM is a $36 billion annual revenues company]. Whitacre was responsible for the BioProducts Division from its inception and it became one of the largest fermentation complexes in the world in less than six years.[4] Hired by ADM in 1989 at the age of 32, Whitacre was the youngest Divisional President in the history of the company.[2] Shortly thereafter, in 1992 at the age of 35, he also became a Corporate Vice President of ADM and an Officer of the company.[2][1] Furthermore, he was considered the leading candidate to become the next company President & COO according to a 1995 front cover Fortune Magazine article.[4] During the 1980s and 1990s, it appeared to many in the business community that Mark Whitacre was having a remarkable career with no end in sight.[4] Many associates expected Whitacre to do extraordinary things.[26] [27]

For example, "when the history of American antitrust law is written, Mark Whitacre probably deserves his own chapter.[5] One night in early November, 1992, the high-ranking Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) executive did something extraordinary: He confessed to a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent that ADM executives-including Whitacre himself-had routinely met with competitors to fix the price of lysine, a food additive. That meeting marked the first time that a participant in a price-fixing cartel had ever voluntarily tipped off law-enforcement officials about a scheme. And its reverberations are still shaking up boardrooms across the globe. The lysine conspirators, including ADM, ultimately settled federal charges for more than $100 million. ADM also paid hundreds of millions of dollars [$400 million alone on the high fructose corn syrup Class Action case] to plaintiffs/customers that it stole from during the price-fixing schemes. Several executives, including the Vice Chairman of ADM, did federal prison time. The ADM investigation, in turn, convinced antitrust prosecutors that price-fixing was a far more pervasive problem than they had suspected and led to prosecutions of cartels in vitamins, citric acid, fax paper, and graphite electrodes. More than 20 other industries are now under investigation. European and Canadian regulators are starting to crack down on the problem, too. Once a crime that rarely attracted the notice of federal authorities, price-fixing is now under attack by governments around the world. Billions of dollars have already been paid in antitrust fines to the U.S. government since Whitacre first blew the whistle in 1992."[5]

"You can make a good argument that none of this would have happened but for Mark Whitacre.[5] He wore a wire for almost three years [November, 1992 to June, 1995] for the FBI to tape executives around the world that were involved in this far-reaching conspiracy. The FBI flew with Whitacre to multiple countries as far as Tokyo,Japan, Paris,France, Mexico City,Mexico, and Hong Kong to listen in on the cartel’s meetings. The FBI had the highest-level executive ever to turn cooperating witness in history. One would think that Whitacre is a hero, right? Actually, he's a convicted felon and was in federal prison for 8 & ½ years."[5]


According to the book published in 2000, “The Informant”, by former New York Times reporter and award-winning author, Kurt Eichenwald, Whitacre was portrayed as a manic-depressive, duplicitous hero because Whitacre was defrauding $9 million from his company at the same time that he was secretly working for the FBI and taping his co-workers.[1] His technique involved setting up a bogus offshore company, having it send ADM a fictitious invoice, and then paying off the bill under his own signature. No sooner did an army of federal agents stage a dramatic raid on ADM headquarters [June, 1995] in Decatur, Ill., than the company hit back with damning evidence that the government's star witness was a criminal himself. The company came after Whitacre with everything they had within days of them learning that Whitacre was working for the FBI. ADM went as far as hiring the famous private detective firm that includes mostly former CIA operatives, Kroll, Inc., to dig up information about Whitacre. According to Eichenwald's book, Whitacre was the promising golden boy of ADM that put his career and family at risk to wear a wire for the FBI and deceive his friends and colleagues. Eichenwald reported that the criminal prosecution would never have been launched had it not been for Mark Whitacre, the former ADM division president who agreed to become a mole for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and be wired. As a result of Whitacre's work, stated Eichenwald, the FBI collected hundreds of hours of video and audio tapes documenting crimes by executives from around the world fixing the prices of food additives. “The Informant” details the investigation and prosecution of ADM and its top executives in "one of the the best documented corporate crimes in recent memory".[1] Eichenwald reported that Whitacre became sucked into his own world of James Bond antics, imperiling the criminal case and creating a web of deceit that left the FBI and prosecutors uncertain where the deception stopped and the truth began.[1] Whitacre reported to the ADM Chairman, Dwayne Andreas, that a Japanese competitor sabotaged one of the manufacturing plants because the plant was not running well and Dwayne Andreas was considering to close it down. Whitacre lied in order to buy himself more time to get the plant running properly. This falsehood is what triggered the FBI to become involved in the first place. Whitacre quickly fessed up to the FBI about the sabotage story but also told the FBI about the global price-fixing cartel. Eichenwald concluded that Whitacre gave to the FBI unprecedented cooperation, but also committed numerous greed-induced white-collar crimes and made the investigation much more difficult for the FBI with his emotional meltdown, deception, and erratic behavior. However, Eichenwald also concluded that much of Whitacre’s emotional meltdown, erratic behavior, and bipolar tendencies occurred because of the pressures of being an untrained undercover operative for the FBI. Eichenwald further stated that the FBI would not have had Whitacre as a cooperating witness to begin with if it was not for Whitacre's manic-depressive tendencies.[28] Because of Whitacre’s mental instability during that time period and the fact that Whitacre provided valuable and unprecedented cooperation on a much larger case, Eichenwald concluded that Whitacre’s sentence was excessive and unjust.[1] Eichenwald stated, in an NPR interview, that Whitacre’s excessive sentence was a “law enforcement failure”.[29]


Another book about the case that was also published in 2000, “Rats in the Grain”, was written by an Ivy League attorney, James Lieber, and painted a much different picture about Whitacre than Eichenwald.[2] Lieber portrayed Whitacre as an American hero. He detailed a case with multi-layered facts about other frauds that occurred at ADM prior to Whitacre's [i.e., financial ones by a former treasurer and technology thefts by others] that supported his thesis that ADM would have supported Whitacre and would have not turned against him for the $9 million if Whitacre had not worked for the FBI. Lieber, in “Rats in the Grain”, also pointed out that the FBI had much information indicating that ADM former Chairman Dwayne Andreas and former President James Randall knew about crimes going on throughout the company. Yet, the FBI was not allowed to question them – ADM's former highest ranking executives. Lieber especially pointed out, and Eichenwald appeared to ignore, that in 1996, “Mr. Dwayne Andreas told the Washington Post that he had known about Whitacre's frauds for three years”.[30] However, Whitacre was only fired and turned into the federal authorities after ADM learned that he had been working as a mole for the FBI. If he knew about it for three years, why didn't he fire Whitacre immediately, asked Lieber? Lieber concluded that fraud was an accepted practice at ADM during the 1990s.[2] ADM has been under new management for several years. Even more shocking was the abundant evidence Lieber presented in his book that built a solid case that the U.S. Department of Justice often subjugated itself to ADM’s political power and well-connected attorneys in the prosecution of informant Whitacre for fraud and tax evasion. For example, ADM and former President Bill Clinton shared the same law firm. Lieber wrote that the former Chairman and CEO of ADM, Dwayne Andreas, had a tremendous amount of political clout and was able to have the spotlight focused towards Whitacre and away from ADM.[31] Andreas had close friendships with many former US Presidents, and ADM had donated millions of dollars over the years to both political parties. Lieber concluded that Whitacre should “not” have been charged on any case in return for his cooperation on a much larger case (i.e., $9 million fraud as compared to a conspiracy that ranged in the hundreds of millions of dollars). Lieber illustrated that most of Whitacre’s fraud amount occurred during the time period that he was working for the FBI and, in turn, was the same time period that Whitacre was mentally unstable as a result of the pressures of working undercover for the FBI. Lieber also concluded, based on his extensive investigation, that Whitacre never attempted any type of fraud during all of his years of employment prior to ADM. Furthermore, Lieber discussed the dilemma about where will the government get its next Mark Whitacre after potential future whistleblowers observe how Whitacre was treated by the government.


More recent information [January, 2007] illustrated that the Former FBI Supervisor of the ADM case, Mr. Dean Paisley, concluded in several pardon support letters that were sent to the White House-and phone conferences with the White House Counsel’s office- “that Whitacre’s fraud case was minuscule as compared to the ADM case that Whitacre cooperated with”.[3] This statement was more in line with Lieber’s conclusion than Eichenwald’s. Paisley further stated in the pardon support letters that Whitacre should receive a Presidential Pardon for his “substantial assistance to the U.S. Government and the sacrifices that he made on the case”. Paisley had been attempting to obtain clemency (a reduced sentence) for Whitacre with the help of other former and current FBI agents and prosecutor that were involved with Whitacre’s case.[2] Paisley has now redirected that energy into obtaining a full Presidential Pardon for Whitacre. Paisley added in several pardon/clemency support letters that most of the erratic behavior and financial frauds occurred during the same time period that Whitacre was working for the FBI and were a direct result of the pressures placed upon him, in his opinion. Paisley had worked 25 years with the FBI and has spent much of his retirement time on attempting to obtain clemency or a pardon for Whitacre. He feels that Whitacre's sentence was a miscarriage of justice and he is passionate about the fact that the U.S. government should reward Whitacre in some fashion.[3]


[edit] Working With FBI & Whitacre's Erratic Behavior

Whitacre had not told the FBI about the illegal $9 million and that made the FBI investigation much more difficult. ADM came after Whitacre with everything that they had in their attempt to have the price-fixing case dropped and to prosecute Whitacre for fraud. Whitacre then lost all credibility as a witness against ADM. It was reported, in Kurt Eichenwald's book, The Informant, that Whitacre seemed at times, during the case in the mid-1990s, not to know what the truth was.[1] Work became Whitacre's only focus and he lost his moral compass along the way. Whitacre lost his balance and his character was laced with mental illness. For example, he told stories of being an orphan, in which he wasn’t, although he did adopt two children.[1] He got scammed by the Nigerians in a way that no stable executive would have done. The Nigerian scam is the oldest trick in the book. Whitacre reported to the ADM Chairman, Dwayne Andreas, that the Japanese sabotaged one of the manufacturing plants because the plant was not running well and Dwayne Andreas was considering to close it down. Whitacre lied to buy himself more time in order to get the plant running properly. This falsehood is what triggered the FBI to become involved in the first place. These things happened before Whitacre worked for the FBI. Therefore, he most likely had some mental illness, reported to be manic depression, prior to his experiences with the FBI. It simply got worse as he worked for the FBI. For example, he became over compulsive and was seen in 1994 using a gas leaf blower on his home driveway during a thunder storm after midnight.[1] Whitacre was working for the FBI during that time period and his behavior became stranger and increasingly bizarre the longer that he worked for the FBI.[1] For example, he stopped sleeping during many nights and was seen riding horses many times well after 2:00 AM, according to Eichenwald.[1] Eichenwald reported details from Whitacre's doctors showing that Whitacre was suffering from manic-depression, also known as bipolar disorder.[1] Former FBI Supervisor, Dean Paisley, stated the following in some of the pardon support letters that he sent to the White House: "the daily pressures of having a family [wife and three children], a high-level, high-stress position at ADM, combined with working for the FBI and wearing a wire every day, and having to meet the FBI agents during late hours in different hotels throughout Decatur, Illinois several nights per week [to go over the tapes] explained much of Whitacre's bizarre behavior during the case".[3] During Whitacre's final months of working undercover for the FBI, he became very depressed and some family members and friends thought he was going to have a nervous breakdown, according to Lieber. Lieber also described how Whitacre's deep depression eventually led to a suicide attempt on August 9, 1995, which was one month after the undercover work was completed and immediately after the spotlight was turned on Whitacre as a target of the fraud investigation. It is not known whether the frauds by Whitacre were because of greed or because of mental instability at the time, or a combination of both. However, both Lieber and Paisley noted in some of their pardon support letters that most of Whitacre's fraud amount occurred during the same years that Whitacre was working for the FBI.[3] It is known that Whitacre never attempted any type of fraud during all of his years of employment prior to ADM, according to Lieber.[2] Therefore, some of the FBI agents that worked with Whitacre have taken some responsibility for Whitacre's bizarre behavior during that time period. For example, some FBI agents-and surprisingly a former prosecutor that indicted Whitacre-continue to support him.[3] Some of these current and former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) officials have stated in "clemency support letters" that the mistakes made by Whitacre, in their opinion, were more because of him "cracking under pressure" than because of any criminal intent. Whitacre worked undercover for the FBI-wearing a wire almost every day-for almost three years. Furthermore, he had no training whatsoever by the FBI and he was "simply sent in there and told to wing it", according to Dean Paisley's letters that were sent to the White House.[3] This unique dilemma created a major controversy within the Department of Justice. Their "cooperating witnesses" are currently trained by the FBI prior to conducting any undercover work as a result of the Whitacre case. Several informants that have worked undercover for the FBI have "cracked under pressure" and have themselves broken some laws.[1]


It should be noted that many corporate scandals have been publicly exposed over the past decade [i.e., Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, and Adelphia] and almost all of them make the ADM crimes appear small in comparison.[32]


[edit] Federal Sentence/Family Support

After being a whistleblower on such a political case and testifying in grand juries against executives that were friends of former U.S. Presidents, Whitacre was convicted for tax evasion and fraud and sent to prison in 1998.[2] According to the updated paperback version of "Rats in the Grain",[2] Whitacre was a model inmate and earned several more advanced degrees, while he was incarcerated, on top of his extensive Ph.D. level education. He fulfilled much of his sentence at a Naval Base in Pensacola, Florida. While he was incarcerated, Dr. Whitacre was a mentor to many individuals in prison and assisted numerous young men in completing their GEDs and college degrees. His wife of 28 years—together since 8th grade—and 3 children visited him every weekend during his entire 8 & 1/2 years sentence. The Whitacres have been described by many as "very giving and caring people".[2] For example, they adopted two children over twenty years ago when the children were ages 5 and 7 in order for the two siblings to be able to stay together. Furthermore, the Whitacres adopted the two older children during the same year that they had their own biological child.[2]


[edit] Career/International Executive Experience

Whitacre is a seasoned executive with almost two decades of top management experience-including positions as CEO/President.[2][4] Most of Whitacre's executive experience was obtained at Fortune 500 companies [i.e., ADM, Degussa, and Ralston Purina] prior to heading entrepreneurial companies.[33] At ADM, Whitacre was President of the Bioproducts Division from its inception and the division became one of the largest fermentation complexes in the world in less than six years. Furthermore, his experience is international in scope with having lived approximately four years in Europe, and fluent in the German language. Whitacre was also responsible for businesses in S.E. Asia for two large international companies, and traveled to Asia dozens of times conducting business activities such as acquisitions and joint ventures.[2][4] Dr. Whitacre has recently joined a California biotech company as their COO/President.[3]


[edit] Education

The book, "Rats in the Grain",[2] discussed Dr. Whitacre's extensive college education that includes several college degrees-some of which are Doctorate level-and an MBA. Always being in biotech, his flagship degree is a Ph.D. from the Ivy League Cornell Univeristy in Ithaca, New York (1983) in Nutritional Biochemistry (minor: biochemistry). At Cornell, Mark Whitacre studied under one of the world-renowned selenium experts, Dr. G.F. Combs, Jr., in order to conduct his Ph.D. dissertation research on the biochemical role of selenium in the pancreas.[34] He holds B.S. and Master's degrees (M.S.) from the Ohio State University where he graduated in 1979 "Cum Laude" and "With Distinction" via an honor's combined program earning both degrees simultaneously within four years. He was one of a few students at Ohio State University enrolled in this special honor's program. Dr. Whitacre's education also includes two law degrees [both the J.D. (Juris Doctor) and LLM] from Northwestern California University in Sacremento, California. Whitacre continued to study during evenings and weekends in 1993 and 1994 in order to obtain a MBA (Master of Business Administration) from a distance learning/correspondence program. Furthermore, during his incarceration, Whitacre earned two more Ph.D.'s [one in Psychology and the other in Business (Economics major)] via correspondence in order to make his prison time more productive.[2]


[edit] Books/Movie

The story of the price-fixing conspiracy and the involvement of Whitacre was the subject of two books, "Rats in the Grain" by Ivy League lawyer, James Lieber and "The Informant", by Kurt Eichenwald, an award-winning former New York Times reporter.[2][1] Both books concluded that Whitacre's sentence was unjust as Whitacre's crime was minuscule as compared to the billion dollar price-fixing crimes that he blew the whistle on. [35] [36] A feature film is being developed about "THE MARK WHITACRE STORY" by Warner Brothers-with Matt Damon playing Whitacre.[37] The Informant is expected to be released in late 2008. The Director will be Steven Soderbergh ["Erin Brockovich", "Traffic", "Oceans 11, 12 & 13"], and the motion picture will be produced by George Clooney. Jennifer Fox and Ben Cosgrove will be the Executive Producers. Scott Burns wrote the screenplay for this film.


[edit] Presidential Pardon Support by FBI Agents, Chuck Colson & Other High Profile Support

Whitacre has numerous supporters that continue to lobby for a Presidential Pardon [Clemency].[3] A pardon/clemency is under serious consideration by the White House on the basis that his extensive cooperation for the FBI, by wearing a wiretap and gathering evidence that enabled the Justice Department to prosecute ADM, dwarfs any charges of fraud against Whitacre. In fact, many individuals knowledgeable about Whitacre's case regard the fraud charges that landed Whitacre behind bars as a miscarriage of justice. "Rats in the Grain" by James Lieber details this fact extensively. According to letters filed to Pardon Attorney at Department of Justice and to President Bush, this position is also strongly supported by Mr. Dean Paisley, the former Springfield, Illinois FBI supervisor in charge of the ADM case-who wrote numerous letters [and phone calls] to the White House in support of Whitacre.[3] Other supporters say that the imprisonment of Whitacre demonstrates how dangerous it can be to become a whistleblower, given the power of some corporations and their leaders to exact retribution against the whistleblower. In Whitacre's case, there is some evidence, although unproven, that then-Chairman of ADM, Dwayne Andreas, exerted undue political influence at the time on focusing the case away from the company and toward Dr. Mark Whitacre, according to Lieber who also wrote several pardon letters in support of Whitacre to the Department of Justice and the White House.[2] Dwayne Andreas was a friend of several former U.S. Presidents. A more recent letter to the Pardon Attorney at the Department of Justice from Mr. Dean Paisley [formerly with the FBI for 25 years] illustrated some concern that ADM executives may be influencing the decision-through ADM's tremendous political clout-whether Whitacre's pardon is granted or not.[3] ADM has been known to donate millions of dollars to both political parties.


Whitacre's clemency request appears to be supported by the Pardon Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice. The petition is also supported by other FBI agents involved with Whitacre's case in addition to Dean Paisley, by a former Attorney General, and surprisingly by one of the former Chicago Asst. U.S. Attorneys that prosecuted Whitacre.[3] Two of the Canadian Dept. of Justice's prosecutors also wrote to the Attorney General and Pardon Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice [Washington, D.C.] in support of a pardon for Dr. Whitacre. Despite strong recommendations from these and many other credible sources that Whitacre be granted a pardon by the President of the United States, President George W. Bush has so far (December, 2006) failed to grant Whitacre any Executive Clemency. To date, President G. W. Bush has not granted a pardon to anyone in prison until their sentences are completed-unlike previous Presidents.


Overall, in support of Mark E Whitacre's clemency-in addition to the impressive list above-are several Senators and Congressmen, Cornell University and Ohio State University Professors, Baseball Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, and numerous CEOs and top executives of corporations.[3] One of the most active in supporting clemency for Dr. Whitacre, according to the official letters filed on Whitacre's behalf, is Mr. Chuck Colson, former Special White House Counsel under President Nixon. Mr. Charles Colson is the Founder and Chairman of Prison Fellowship Ministries and has taken a strong interest in Whitacre's case. He has personally taken Whitacre's case to the White House.[3] A Whitacre pardon is expected at some point because of the strong support from the very people that indicted [charged] him. Mr. Dean Paisley stated in some pardon letters that he visited Whitacre during his incarceration "just to say thank you to Whitacre" for his substantial assistance to the U.S. Government. Although Whitacre has been released, Mr. Paisley continues [as of January, 2007] to be in contact with the White House Counsel's Office regarding Whitacre's pardon.[3]


It should also be noted that numerous plaintiff lawyers, that lead the Class Action suits against ADM for price-fixing, have supported Whitacre with several letters to the White House in support of a pardon.[3] They stated "that they absolutely had no case without Whitacre and that he should have been commended for his sacrifices on such a historical case". After the law firms received their payments for winning the Class Action settlements, some of the leading plaintiff law firms donated a portion of their payments to Whitacre's wife and children. The plaintiff lawyers did this because they disagreed with the injustice that Whitacre received from the U.S. Government. All of the lawyers and plaintiffs knew that they had no case without Whitacre. Therefore, they decided that a whistleblower reward of some sort was appropriate for the Whitacre family in return for the sacrifices that Dr. Whitacre made by being a whistleblower and an informant that landed him in prison for 8 & 1/2 years. Their goal was to assure that the Whitacre family was taken care of during his lengthy incarceration. Because of the hard work put forth by the plaintiff lawyers on several cases that ONLY Whitacre brought to light, ADM paid hundreds of millions of dollars [$400 million alone in the High Fructrose Corn Syrup case] to the plaintiffs that ADM defrauded-during their price-fixing schemes-in order to settle the Class Action suits.[38] In addition, ADM, the other lysine & citric acid producers, and the European vitamin producers paid more than $1 billion in criminal fines to the U.S. Government because of price-fixing.[1]


[edit] Whitacre Released and COO & President of Biotech Company

Further review of his pardon file illustrated that Dr. Whitacre has joined a California biotech company as the company's COO & President, Technology & Business Development, and that the company placed [December, 2006] an office on the east coast [in Pensacola, Florida] in order for Dr. Whitacre to start earlier with the firm and simultaneously complete the halfway house/home confinement and probation portions of his sentence.[3] As COO & President of the Fresno, California company, Cypress Systems ,Inc., Technology & Business Development, Whitacre will focus mostly on new partnerships, new projects, new products, new technology and business development. One of Cypress' flagship products is selenium and therefore, the new position takes Whitacre back to his original roots at Cornell University where he researched the biochemical role of selenium in the prevention of diseases. Most of Cypress' research focuses on a variety of cancers and AIDS.


[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Eichenwald, Kurt (2000). The Informant. Broadway Books, Inc.. ISBN 9780767903271. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Lieber, James B. (2000). Rats in the Grain. Four Walls Eight Windows, Inc.. ISBN 1-56858-142-4. 
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t (2007) Whitacre's Clemency File. U.S. Department of Justice's Pardon Attorney Office and Office of White House Counsel. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f Henkoff, Ronald (1995, Sept. 4). My Life as a Mole for the FBI. Fortune Magazine. 
  5. ^ a b c d France, Mike (2000, September 25). Pulp Nonfiction at Archer Daniels. Business Week. 


[edit] External links

  • [39], a RealAudio broadcast from This American Life: we hear from New York Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald, whose book The Informant outlines how a shadowy cabal of men in suits actually sat down together around a table and set worldwide food prices (leading to the largest antitrust fine in U.S. history)."
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