Informant (81 page)

Some of this information conflicts. Neither the 302 nor the teletype indicates where the meeting took place. In his court testimony, Shepard said that the interview took place at the FBI office in Decatur. In his grand jury testimony, Cheviron insisted that was incorrect, and that the meeting took place at Jim Shafter’s of-fice. After cross-checking as much information as possible, I have concluded that Agent Shepard’s recollection is in error, since it is not consistent with any other information that was obtained. Cheviron’s recollection is consistent with all of that other information. This is simply a mistake that can easily be expected with the passage of years.

43–44
Some details of Whitacre’s false story about the threat to his daughter from the FD-302 of his interview with Brian Shepard on November 6, 1992, as well as from Ronald Henkoff, “The ADM Tale Gets Even Stranger,’’
Fortune
, May 13, 1996, p. 113.

44–46
Cheviron described the events of November 5, 1992, in his grand jury testimony of November 12, 1996.

48
Details about the history of Moweaqua from records and news clippings on file with the Moweaqua Coal Mine Museum, Moweaqua, IL.

48–53
Some details of the November 5, 1992, interview of Mark Whitacre by Brian Shepard from two FD-302s of that date. Other information comes from an internal FBI teletype, prepared by Bob Anderson, a Springfield squad leader, on November 6, 1992.

Shepard also described many of the details in his testimony during
U.S. v. Michael D. Andreas et al.
His most detailed description came in his testimony of August 12, 1998. During that day’s testimony, Shepard described how Whitacre told him about being coached by Cheviron and Mick Andreas immediately before their first meeting. No evidence emerged in this investigation that Mark Cheviron had any personal knowledge of the price-fixing activities at ADM. He was never charged with any other wrongdoing either.

Shepard also testified that Whitacre had described conversations with James Randall about efforts to steal microbes from competitors. Those efforts, Shepard testified, included paying Michael Frein $50,000 for stealing a bacitracin bug, and using prostitutes who were hired by Mark Cheviron to get information from employees of competitors.

Later in his testimony, Shepard was asked specifically if any of these separate allegations turned out to be true. Shepard replied, “In my opinion, they are true.’’

Through his lawyer, Jeff Cole, Randall denied any involvement in such activities. Also, through his lawyer William J. Linklater, Michael Frein firmly denied that he had ever improperly taken any microbes from his former employer. I am also aware that, in a short discussion with an FBI agent, Frein denied any involvement in wrongdoing. According to notes I have reviewed, officials from IMC told the FBI that they had no knowledge of any microbe thefts, although they said that at the time in question, they had no means of determining whether any bugs were missing.

Another ADM executive, Marty Allison, informed the government during an FBI interview that he had also personally heard from Randall that Frein had brought the bacitracin bug with him from his previous employer. Allison’s statement to Special Agent Herndon was recorded in a 302 dated February 13, 1996. Allison later pleaded guilty to charges in an unrelated criminal case involving actions he took while working for ADM.

The case was still under investigation in 1996, documents show. A January 30, 1996, letter to Frances Hulin, the United States Attorney in Springfield, from Special Agent Robert Herndon, described elements of the investigation to that point, including the allegations pertaining to Frein and Randall. No charges were ever brought against either man.

Finally, a December 23, 1992, teletype prepared for Bureau headquarters by Special Agent Joe Weatherall detailed many of the allegations that were the subject of the Springfield FBI’s investigation, including the possible interstate transportation of stolen property and what it described as “a pattern of obstruction of justice concerning the Springfield division matter.’’ Again, no charges were ever brought in either case.

No charges were ever brought by the government involving the Corn Refiners Association, and no substantive evidence was ever developed indicating that the association itself was involved in price-fixing.

CHAPTER THREE

54–56
The meeting and attendance at the Springfield meeting in Stukey’s office from a private calendar maintained by one of the participants.

56–58
The history of the Sherman Antitrust Act comes from a variety of sources. The law’s legislative history and early years of performance comes from Ron Chernow’s towering biography
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller Sr.
(Random House, 1998). Other details of the law, and of the Progressive Era, come from H. W. Brands,
The Reckless Decade: America in the 1890’s
(St. Martin’s Press, 1995), pp. 58, 158; Steven J. Diner,
A Very Different Age: Americans of the Progressive Era
(Hill and Wang, 1998), pp. 14–75; and William Manners,
TR & Will: A Friendship that Split the Republican Party
(Harcourt Brace & World, 1969), pp. 43, 191. Details on the use of the law in price-fixing cases from A. D. Neale and D. G. Goyder,
The Antitrust Laws of the United States: A Study of Competition Enforced by Law
(Third Edition), and Thomas W. Hazlett, “The Legislative History of the Sherman Antitrust Act Re-examined; Economics and 100 Years of Antitrust,’’
Economic Inquiry
, April 1992, p. 263.

58–59
Whitacre’s call on the morning of November 6, 1992, was described in Cheviron’s grand jury testimony, as well as in the 302 of Mark Whitacre, for the investigation of that same day.

59
Copies of the ABP contract, and the note faxed by Harald Skogman to Mark Whitacre, were obtained by the author.

60–62
Cheviron’s afternoon meeting with Shepard and the FBI is described in several records. They include Cheviron’s grand jury testimony of November 12, 1996, and Shepard’s trial testimony in
U.S. v. Michael D. Andreas et al.
It is also referenced in the testimony of Donald Stukey, at a pretrial hearing in that same case held on November 5, 1997.

62–63
The episode involving the call from Regina from the Inland Telephone Company is described in several records. They include Cheviron’s grand jury testimony of November 12, 1996; a transcript of a recorded conversation between Cheviron and Special Agent Brian Shepard that took place on November 9, 1992; an FBI 302 of Ginger Whitacre, dated November 6, 1992; and a 302 of Mark Whitacre taken that same day.

63–65
The meeting between Whitacre and Shepard on the night of November 6, 1992, was described in several 302s. They include two 302s prepared by Shepard, based on his notes of that night. At the time, Shepard was dividing his notes into separate 302s based on different possible crimes. That same night, he also interviewed Ginger Whitacre, and her comments were also recorded in a 302.

64–65
Shepard described his reaction to Whitacre’s story about the threat to his daughter in his testimony during
U.S. v. Michael D. Andreas et al.

65–71
Some details of the meeting between Whitacre, Shepard, and Paisley on November 8, 1992, from two 302s prepared by the agents from Shepard’s notes of that meeting. Also, Shepard discussed this meeting in his testimony in
U.S. v. Michael D. Andreas et al.

71–73
Cheviron discussed his conversation with Whitacre on the morning of Novem-ber 9, 1992, as well as his subsequent telephone call with Shepard, in his grand jury testimony of November 12, 1996.

72–74
Cheviron described his November 9 conversation with Reising in a telephone conversation with Shepard that same day. The conversation was recorded, and a transcript was reviewed by the author. Shepard also described the conversation in his trial testimony in
U.S. v. Michael D. Andreas et al.

73–74
The conversation between Paisley and Cheviron on November 9, 1992, from a transcript of the FBI tape 1B2 for case #60A-SI-46290.

74
Details of Paisley’s filing of the Cheviron tape, as well as its log number, from an FBI 504B of November 9, 1992.

75
The location and other details of the first recorded conversation were revealed by Shepard in his testimony during
U.S. v. Michael D. Andreas et al.

Some details of the appearance of the hotel from personal observation, as well as interviews with people who remembered the location’s look in 1992.

76
Details of the signing of the FD-472s and FD-473s from the documents themselves.

76–78
The conversation between Whitacre and Yamamoto from the transcript of the recorded conversation, government file number 1B1. While portions of this tape were played at the trial of
U.S. v. Michael D. Andreas et al.
, the full transcript has never been publicly released.

78
The description of the calls to Ikeda and Mimoto, as well as the other failed calls, from the transcript of the recorded conversation, government file number 1B1.

78
Details of the signing of the FD-504b from the document itself.

78–79
Some details of the conversation between Whitacre and Shepard on the night of November 9, 1992, from three 302s prepared by Shepard.

CHAPTER FOUR

80
The description of the weather on the road from Decatur to Springfield comes from records on file with the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina. The records include the hourly surface weather observations for November 10, 1992, from both the Decatur and Springfield stations maintained by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

80
The time frame of Paisley’s trip to Springfield was established by an FD-504b, a document that describes the chain of custody for tape-recorded evidence maintained by the FBI. The document shows that Shepard turned over the tape to Paisley at 10:25 that evening. Other information developed by the author showed that Paisley left his meeting with Shepard within five minutes of receiving the tape. Getting onto the highway from downtown Decatur could take anywhere from ten to fifteen minutes. So, by the time that Paisley had reached the open fields on Interstate 72, it would have been shortly before eleven o’clock.

82
Weatherall’s military history from documents on file with the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO, including the agent’s record of assignments from 1961 through 1970.

83–85
The meeting between Whitacre, Shepard, and Weatherall on the night of November 13, 1992, was described in three separate 302s from that day. Also, references were made to the discussions in a teletype prepared for FBI headquarters by Weatherall on November 19, 1992. The room number from hotel expense records.

85–87
Details of Whitacre’s phone conversation from Colorado with Shepard come from several different sources. A small amount of information comes from a 302 Shepard prepared, which described only the price-fixing discussion. Other notes Shepard wrote down were not recorded in a 302, although the agent did maintain the information in a case file. Those notes were later transcribed into an undated document called “FBI File Information.’’ Finally, references were made to the discussions in a teletype prepared for FBI headquarters by Weatherall on November 19, 1992.

89
Whitacre’s excuses for not taping were detailed in a 302 with Shepard, dated November 13, 1992.

89–90
Karen Sterling’s sense of intimidation and fear involving Sid Hulse—as well as her concerns about sexual harassment—were described in a 302 from an interview with Special Agents Thomas Simon Jr. and Anthony D’Angelo on March 9, 1997. In that interview, Sterling described how she had begun carrying a gun in her purse out of concerns for her safety around Hulse. Sterling told the FBI that she reported Hulse’s conduct to his boss, Mark Whitacre, but that Whitacre told her he would not do anything about it because Hulse was an important person to ADM.

A secretary who subsequently worked for Hulse, Mary Hodge, told a similar story about her boss’s behavior and sexual harassment to the FBI. That was described in a 302 of her interview, dated June 27, 1997, and written by D’Angelo. Again, Hodge told the FBI that she reported the conduct to Whitacre, who again declined to take action. Hodge ultimately filed a formal complaint at ADM.

Sterling brought a sexual-harassment suit in the state court of Fulton County, Georgia, naming ADM and Hulse as defendants. Hodge filed a case against the company and Hulse in the federal district court in Atlanta. According to their FBI statements, both women’s cases were settled with requirements that the terms remain confidential.

90
The conversation between Whitacre and Hulse is described in a 302 of Hulse’s interview with Special Agent Robert Herndon, dated May 10, 1996.

91
Some details of the Regal McCormick Ranch from Patricia Myers, “Soothing the Sizzle: Cool Oases Spell Relief to the Summer-Weary,’’
Arizona Republic
, August 30, 1996, p. 1.

91
Whitacre lunch location and time at the Regal McCormick Ranch from a record obtained by the author of his expense statements, travel schedules, and telephone calls.

91
While the FBI file information says that Whitacre told Shepard he was at a motel in Phoenix, records of his expense statements, travel schedules, and telephone calls show that he was only at the McCormick Ranch that day.

91–94
Details of the November 18, 1992, Whitacre conversation with Shepard from two sources—the undated record of “FBI File Information” and Weatherall’s teletype of November 19, 1992.

94
Whitacre’s travel schedule and his November 23 meeting with Jones and Hall, from the records of his expense statements, travel schedules, and telephone calls obtained by the author.