Lawyer: ADM Mole Tried To Kill Himself

The tale of Mark Whitacre has become even more twisted, with his lawyer saying the former government informant has tried for a second time to commit suicide.

Once a rising executive at Archer Daniels Midland Co., Whitacre was viewed as a candidate to someday run the agribusiness giant. Then he became an informant who helped the FBI with a global price-fixing investigation.

ADM resolved the allegations with a record $100 million fine, but that wasn't the end for Whitacre.

He was scheduled to be sentenced Thursday for stealing $9 million from ADM. Just hours before his court date, his lawyer said, he apparently tried to kill himself in his North Carolina home. The lawyer, Bill Walker, said the attempt would only add to Whitacre's problems.

"I don't think the court is going to look very favorable on that they were basically stood up this afternoon," Walker said.

He was right. U.S. District Judge Harold Baker said Whitacre had violated the terms of his bond agreement by not showing up in court and issued an arrest warrant. A new sentencing date was set for Wednesday.

Whitacre was in good physical condition but under suicide watch at the University of North Carolina Hospital in Chapel Hill, Walker said.

Whitacre was found in his car. Walker said he assumed he tried to commit suicide the same way he did in August 1995, when Whitacre left his car running in his garage before being discovered by a gardener.

Whitacre, 40, was the head of the BioProducts Division at ADM, the Decatur-based company that bills itself as the "supermarket to the world."

The tapes Whitacre secretly recorded over two years were credited with getting ADM and other companies to plead guilty to fixing prices for the feed additive lysine and citric acid, used in soft drinks and detergents.

ADM paid $100 million, the largest criminal antitrust fine in history, and millions more to settle civil lawsuits.

But shortly after he was exposed as an informant in 1995, Whitacre admitted stashing millions of dollars from ADM in foreign bank accounts. He insisted the money was part of an off-the-books bonus plan for ADM executives, but both the company and federal prosecutors said the money was stolen.

Whitacre pleaded guilty to 37 counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy, money laundering, interstate transportation of stolen property and filing a false income tax return.

Whitacre still faces trial on additional charges of working to fix prices for lysine. Michael Andreas, the son of ADM chairman Dwayne Andreas, and retired executive Terrance Wilson also face charges in that case.

By Tara Burghart
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