Mark Whitacre

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. As a result of Whitacre's 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. After almost three years of FBI undercover work, Whitacre was convicted of committing a $9 million fraud that occurred during the same time period that he was working for the FBI. In turn, Whitacre received a federal prison sentence that was three-times longer than the white-collar criminals that he exposed.

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. Two books have been published about Whitacre. The Informant, by Kurt Eichenwald, portrayed Whitacre as a complex figure that was simultaneously one of the best undercover cooperating witnesses that the U.S. Government ever had, but also a manic-depressive, greed-induced white-collar criminal that lied extensively to save himself. The Informant focused on Whitacre's meltdown and bizarre behavior that occurred from the pressures of working for the FBI for 31 months. The other book, Rats in the Grain, by lawyer James B. Lieber, focused more on ADM's price-fixing trial and portrayed Whitacre as an American hero that was overpowered by ADM’s vast political clout. 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. 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.

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. 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.