Mark Whitacre

In 2008, more than ten years after the original conviction, Paisley and two other FBI agents went public with praise for Whitacre. Paisley concluded that "Whitacre's fraud case was minuscule as compared to the ADM case Whitacre cooperated with." "Had it not been for the fraud conviction," Paisley said, "he would be a national hero. Well, he is a national hero." Paisley added, "Without him, the biggest antitrust case we've ever had would not have been." On August 4, 2010, in a Discovery Channel documentary, Undercover: Operation Harvest King, several FBI agents stated that "Whitacre got a raw deal." In addition, official letters from the FBI in support of a Whitacre pardon were published in Floyd Perry's September 2009 book, Mark Whitacre: Against All Odds.

The Informant! is a Warner Bros. feature film released on September 18, 2009. Produced by Jennifer Fox and directed by Steven Soderbergh, the dark comedy/drama film stars Matt Damon as Whitacre. The screenplay by Scott Z. Burns is based on Kurt Eichenwald's book, The Informant, with most of the filming done in Central Illinois (Blue Mound, Moweaqua and Decatur). In the movie, the character of Whitacre is portrayed as exhibiting bizarre behavior, including delusions, mania, and compulsively lying. It was eventually learned that Whitacre was suffering from bipolar disorder.

A Discovery Channel TV documentary titled Undercover: Operation Harvest King, which documents Mark Whitacre's role in the ADM price fixing case, aired several times during 2009 and 2010. Discovery Channel interviewed the three FBI agents who handled the Mark Whitacre/ADM case (i.e., Dean Paisley, Brian Shepard and Robert Herndon), along with Mark and Ginger Whitacre. The 45-minute documentary is archived.

ADM investigated Whitacre's activities and, upon discovering suspicious activity, requested the FBI investigate Whitacre for embezzlement. As a result of $9.5 million in various frauds, Whitacre lost his whistleblower's immunity, and consequently spent eight and a half years in federal prison. He was released in December 2006. Whitacre is currently the chief science officer and President of Operations at Cypress Systems, a California biotechnology firm.

In December 2006, after his release from federal prison, Whitacre was hired by Cypress Systems Inc., a California biotechnology company, as the President of Technology and Business Development. In March 2008, Whitacre was promoted to the company's Chief Operating Officer (COO) and President of operations.

Whitacre became a Christian during his incarceration, and since his prison release during December 2006, he has been often interviewed by the Christian community-including the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN)-about redemption, second chances, and the importance of his faith. Forbes reported that Whitacre was guest speaker at the Quantico FBI Academy during 2011 about second chances, and he was keynote speaker for the 40th Annual NAPSA (Pre Trial Services and U.S. Federal Probation) Conference in 2012 along with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

In his 2000 book, The Informant, Kurt Eichenwald, a former The New York Times reporter, portrays Whitacre as a complex figure: while working for the FBI as one of the best and most effective undercover cooperating witnesses the U.S. government ever had, Whitacre was simultaneously committing a $9 million white-collar crime. According to Eichenwald, preceding the investigation Whitacre was scammed by a group in Nigeria in an advance fee fraud, and suggests that Whitacre's losses in the scam may have been the initial reason behind his embezzlement activity at ADM.

Eichenwald, two prosecutors, an FBI agent, and Mark Whitacre (during his incarceration) were featured on a September 15, 2000, episode of the radio program This American Life about the ADM case. Eichenwald referred to Whitacre's sentence as "excessive and a law enforcement failure" because Whitacre never received credit for his substantial cooperation in assisting the government with the massive price-fixing case.

In his 2000 book, Rats In The Grain, attorney James B. Lieber focuses on ADM's price-fixing trial and presents Whitacre as an American hero overpowered by ADM's vast political clout. Rats In The Grain presents evidence that the U.S. Department of Justice often subjugated itself to ADM's political power and well-connected attorneys in prosecuting Whitacre. Lieber reveals that, in 1996, "ADM CEO, Mr. Dwayne Andreas, told The Washington Post that he had known about Whitacre's frauds for three years" and speculates that Whitacre was fired and turned over to the Federal authorities only after ADM learned he had been working as an FBI mole. If he knew about Whitacre's embezzlement for three years, Lieber asks, why didn't Andreas fire Whitacre immediately? Lieber surmises: "There were only two logical explanations for Andreas' behavior: either he did not think the funds were stolen (in other words, they were approved) or he didn't care." Based on the fact that other ADM executives committed crimes such as financial fraud by a former treasurer and technology thefts by others, Lieber concludes that fraud was well-known and widespread at ADM during the 1990s. Lieber suggests that ADM would have not turned Whitacre over to the authorities if he had not been a mole for the FBI.

Whitacre pled guilty to tax evasion and fraud and was sent to prison on March 4, 1998. Although some officials in the FBI and the Department of Justice opposed the length of the penalty, Whitacre was sentenced to nine years in Federal prison. In December 2006, he was released on good behavior after serving eight and a half years.

Whitacre was a Ph.D. scientist at Ralston Purina after he graduated from Cornell University in early 1983. He then was Vice President at Degussa from 1984 to 1989 prior to joining ADM. In late 1989, Whitacre became the President of the BioProducts Division at ADM. In 1992, he was promoted to Corporate Vice President of ADM, as well as being President of the BioProducts Division. On August 9, 1995, Whitacre was terminated for conducting a $9.5 million fraud after ADM learned that he was an FBI informant for three years. Whitacre wore a wire for the FBI assisting in one of the largest price fixing cases in U.S. history, against ADM.

After leaving ADM in August 1995, Whitacre was hired as the CEO of Future Health Technologies (FHT), which soon was renamed Biomar International. He worked at Biomar until his incarceration began during early 1998.

In 1992, during an ADM-initiated investigation of corporate espionage and sabotage, Whitacre informed an FBI agent that he and other ADM executives were involved in an illegal multinational lysine price-fixing scheme. Whitacre's wife pressured him into becoming a whistleblower after she threatened to go to the FBI herself.

Whitacre married his high school sweetheart, Ginger Gilbert, on June 16, 1979.

Mark Edward Whitacre (born May 1, 1957) is an American business executive who came to public attention in 1995 when, as president of the Decatur, Illinois-based BioProducts Division at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), he became the highest-level corporate executive in U.S. history to become a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) whistleblower. For three years (1992–95), Whitacre acted as a cooperating witness for the FBI, which was investigating ADM for price fixing. In the late 1990s Whitacre was sentenced to 9 years in federal prison for embezzling $9.5 million from ADM at the same time he was assisting the federal price-fixing investigation.

Whitacre was born on May 1, 1957 and grew up in Morrow, Ohio. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from Ohio State University, and earned a Ph.D. in Nutritional Biochemistry from Cornell University (1983).