United States v. Archer Daniels Midland Co.

United States v. Archer Daniels Midland Co.
CourtUnited States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
DefendantArcher Daniels Midland Company
ProsecutionUnited States
Citation96-CR-00640
Court membership
Judge sittingRuben Castillo
Keywords
Antitrust, price fixing, Sherman Antitrust Act, lysine, citric acid

United States v. Archer Daniels Midland Co. was a criminal case filed on October 15, 1996 in which the United States alleged that Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) and other corporations and individuals engaged in a conspiracy to fix and maintain prices of lysine and citric acid and to restrain or eliminate competing suppliers of these additives in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act (15 U.S.C. § 1). ADM entered into a plea agreement in which ADM pleaded guilty to both antitrust counts and agreed to pay a combined fine of $100 million ($70 million for the lysine count and $30 million for the citric acid count). This is equivalent to $237.10 million in present-day terms and was at the time the largest antitrust fine ever imposed.[1][2][3][4]

The United States' charges against ADM were the second round of charges brought as a result of the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust investigation into the food and feed additives industries. A few months earlier, in August 1996, the Japanese firms Ajinomoto Co., Inc. and Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co. Ltd. and U.S.-based Korean subsidiary Sewon America, Inc. and their executives agreed to pay more than $20 million combined for their participation in the lysine conspiracy.[1] The Department of Justice recovered more than $195 million in fines arising from its investigation.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b U.S. Department of Justice (October 15, 1996). "Archer Daniels Midland Co. to Plead Guilty and Pay $100 Million for Role in Two International Price-Fixing Conspiracies" (PDF) (Press release). Washington, D.C. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 30, 2010. Retrieved May 12, 2013.
  2. ^ PLEA AGREEMENT, October 15, 1996, archived from the original on October 12, 2008
  3. ^ Smith, Wm. Randolph (2000). "Pushing the Frontiers of Antitrust Law: Recent Developments" (PDF). 20 Energy & Min. L. Inst. ch. 5. Washington, D.C.: Energy & Mineral Law Foundation.
  4. ^ U.S. Department of Justice. "Antitrust Division Sherman Act Violations Yielding a Corporate Fine of $10 Million or More". Data.gov. Archived from the original on June 26, 2013. Retrieved May 12, 2013.
  5. ^ U.S. Department of Justice (March 26, 1997). "Justice Department's Ongoing Probe Into the Food and Feed Additives Industry Yields $25 Million More in Criminal Fines" (Press release). Washington, D.C. Archived from the original on April 15, 2013. Retrieved May 12, 2013.