Informant (83 page)

163
Details of the meeting in Decatur between Yamada and Andreas from a transcript of tape 1B47.

163
The date of the ADM trip to Vancouver was established by an analysis of Whitacre’s expense statements that was obtained by the author.

163
The attendance at the Vancouver meeting from “Government’s Proffer of Co-conspirators’ Statements,’’ filed on May 6, 1998, in the case
U.S. v. Michael D. Andreas et al.

164
Details of the Vancouver meeting from several sources, including contemporaneous notes of the discussion maintained by Jhom Su Kim of Miwon, which coincided with 302s of Whitacre taken by Weatherall on June 24, 1993, and by Shepard on June 28, 1993.

165
Page described his meeting with Whitacre in a 302 with Special Agent Anthony D’Angelo and Supervisory Special Agent Rob Grant on November 25, 1996. Other information from the complaint filed in
ADM v. Mark E. Whitacre
. While the Page meeting definitely took place in the summer of 1993, dating it precisely proved difficult. In his 302, Page remembered the discussions as taking place in August of that summer, but a review of Whitacre’s expense statements showed that it occurred in June. Page officially began his employment with ADM in October. Because of these conflicts, I have chosen to present these events with no dates specified. However, the documents make clear that they occurred at about the time they are presented in the narrative.

165
Details of Whitacre’s expense statement from a confidential analysis of those reports obtained by the author. The relationship between Vanetta USA and ADM from the complaint filed
ADM v. Mark E. Whitacre
.

165
Whitacre’s interest in avoiding questions about David Page is evident from two sources—the misrepresentation of Page’s employment on his expense report; this, of course, could have been the result of error. But, in his 302, Page said he was told by Whitacre to lie about where he worked in his employment application, a clear sign that the original misrepresentation was an intentional effort to avoid drawing attention to Page.

166
Details about Forsyth and its history from
Decatur-Forsyth: Visitor’s Guide
, Spring-Summer 1999.

166–70
Details of Whitacre’s meeting with the FBI on July 13, 1993, from a 302 of that date.

168–69
The dialogue from Whitacre’s July 13 phone call with Mimoto from a transcript of tape #1B21.

170
Some details of the meeting in Budapest from a 302 of a June 30, 1996, FBI interview with Kota Fujiwara, an executive with Kyowa Hakko. This is not the same person as Kotaro Fujiwara, whose name was used by Whitacre in his fictitious story about the extortion threat.

171
The change in price of lysine from June to July 1993, from “Government’s Proffer of Co-conspirators’ Statements,’’ filed on May 6, 1998, in the case
U.S. v. Michael D. Andreas et al.
Also from ADM internal company records.

173
Details of the August 24, 1993, meeting between Whitacre and the FBI from an FBI 302 of that day.

173–75
Dialogue from
The Firm
was transcribed from a video of the movie.

175
Whitacre’s statements that he believed he had met his obligations under the co-operation agreement from a document entitled “FBI File Information,’’ produced by the government in the case
U.S. v. Michael D. Andreas et al.

175–76
Details of Whitacre’s September 26, 1993, phone call with Shepard from a 302 of that day.

176
Details of the September 28, 1993, meeting between Whitacre and the FBI from a 302 of that day.

177
Whitacre continues to publicly maintain that he taped the agents during this case, and there are a number of reasons to believe him. First, I have heard excerpts of one of the tapes, which contains extended portions with Brian Shepard’s voice, making statements that do not coincide with the timing and tenor of other comments of Shepard’s that were recorded accidentally during the price-fixing case. Secondly, there came a point during the investigation when the agents began to suspect that Whitacre was in fact taping them, based on his refusal to remove his jacket even when the room they were in was extremely hot. Finally, Whitacre made it a habit of surreptitiously recording a number of people, including reporters and his subsequent employer. There is no reason to believe that he would not do the same thing with the FBI. His actions, plus the existence of a tape, has led me to conclude that Whitacre did indeed record the agents occasionally during Harvest King.

177
Details of the events in the Paris hotel lobby on October 5, 1993, from 302 created following an FBI surveillance by Shepard.

177
–78 Some details of Whitacre’s conversation at the American Embassy in Paris from an FBI 302 of October 5, 1993.

178
The room number and location for the morning meeting in Forsyth from hotel expense records.

179–83
Dialogue and other details regarding the Andreas meetings of October 12, 1993, from a transcript of audiotapes 1B43 and 1B46 for case #60A-SI-46290. Other information from a 302 resulting from Whitacre’s meeting with the FBI that same night.

183
For privacy reasons, the name “Debbie” was substituted throughout this book for the actual name spoken by Andreas and Whitacre. The same thing was done for every other woman mentioned in a sexually inappropriate way. These women are the unknowing victims of this verbal abuse; I saw no reason to risk subjecting them to public embarrassment.

183–85
Dialogue and other details regarding the Ikeda phone call of October 12, 1993, from a transcript of audiotape 1B44 for case #60A-SI-46290.

185–8
7 Dialogue and other details regarding the Andreas meetings of October 13, 1993, from a transcript of audiotape 1B47 for case #60A-SI-46290.

187
Information regarding Weatherall’s call from Whitacre of October 13 from a 302 of that day.

CHAPTER EIGHT

183–84
Some descriptive details of the John Wayne Airport from its Web site at
www.ocair.com
. Some descriptive details of the Irvine Marriott from its Web site at
www.marriott.com
. Other information from a series of hotel bills and related expense records from the meeting.

The location of the meeting was determined from bills attached to Whitacre’s expense report covering October 25, 1993, and hotel expense records, including an “audiovisual event order’’ through MVP Visual Presentations at the hotel.

189
The type of plane flown to Irvine was determined from the company log of air travel. Descriptive details of the jet from the company’s aircraft registration, on file with the Federal Aviation Administration. Weather conditions for the flight were described on the recording that day.

189
The price of the easel from the audiovisual event order.

189–97
Details of the October 25, 1993, Irvine meeting from FBI videotapes, as well as transcripts for FBI tapes 1B56, 1B57, and 1B58 for case #60A-SI-46290.

197–98
Some details of Whitacre meeting with Herndon on October 25 from an FD-504b, a chain-of-custody record, for tapes collected that night.

200
Details of Whitacre’s expenses from the original bills. Whitacre’s travel out of the United States documented by immigration records from a foreign country.

200–201
Details of Japanese negotiating strategies from March,
The Japanese Negotiator
. The intention of Ajinomoto is apparent from a translation of the discussions in Japanese of those executives at the Irvine meeting. They are also evident in Whitacre’s many discussions with Mimoto and Ikeda, which are described in transcripts of tape 1B66 (November 8 and 11), 1B69 (November 30), and 1B74 (December 1) for case #60A-SI-46290.

201
Whitacre’s discussions with Andreas and Wilson from a transcript of tape 1B74 for case #60A-SI-46290.

201–202
Some details of Hulin’s nomination and background from “Simon, Moseley-Braun Expect White House to Nominate Hulin,’’ States News Service, October 8, 1993; “White House Nominates Hulin,’’ States News Service, October 12, 1993; and “Hulin Sworn in as First Female U.S. Attorney for Central Illinois,’’ United Press International, January 7, 1994.

203–204
Details of Whitacre’s purchase from Radio Shack from a copy of the original bill, dated December 2, 1993.

204
Details of Wilson and Whitacre’s travels to Tokyo on December 7 from receipts for their expenses on that day.

204–206
Dialogue from the December 8, 1993, meeting at the Palace Hotel from a transcript of tapes 1B75, 1B76, and 1B77 for case #60A-SI-46290.

208
Whitacre’s meeting of February 2, 1994, is described in a 302 by Shepard and Weatherall from that day.

CHAPTER NINE

209–11
Herndon described many of the problems during the setup for the Hawaii meeting in his sworn testimony during the trial of
U.S. v. Michael D. Andreas et al.

211–12
Herndon described the use of the F-Bird in his sworn testimony in
U.S. v. Michael D. Andreas et al.

214–23
The dialogue and events described from the Hawaii meeting comes from transcripts of tapes 1B94, 1B95, 1B96, 1B98, and 1B101 for case #60A-SI-46290. Some descriptive elements come from my own observations from the Hawaii videotapes.

222
Wilson’s statement, “I wanna be closer to you than I am to any customer, ‘cause you can make it that I can make money or I can’t make money,’’ comes from my own listening to the Hawaii videotape. This interpretation differs from the government’s transcript. In its transcript, the government records Wilson’s words as “I wanna be closer to you than I am to any customer. ‘Cause you can make us, I can make money. I can’t make money.’’ I have chosen to go with my interpretation for several reasons: First, the words seemed clear when I listened to them. Second, they make perfect sense in context. Third, the words from the government’s interpretation mean nothing and don’t seem to fit in context.

224–25
The dialogue of Whitacre’s conversation with Wilson as they walked across the parking lot from a transcript of tape number 1B93 for case #60A-SI-46290.

227
Whitacre described the citric discussions at the Andreas birthday party in a 302 dated March 7, 1994.

227
The timing of the meeting between the agents and the prosecutors from a scheduling book of one participant.

228–29
The status of the regional price-fixing meetings from the February 13, 1996, 302 of Marty Allison. A copy of notes from the meeting was reviewed by the author.

228–29
The preparation and expectations surrounding the ABP check request comes from several sources. First, I obtained a copy of the original document. The document does not contain the personal note written by Whitacre, but it was described in a 302 of James Kirk Schmidt on January 24, 1996. Schmidt said that, after he read the note, he covered it with white-out tape. The tape is visible on the copy. Other elements of this section come from Schmidt’s 302. In addition, the surrounding circumstances are described in the 302 of Beat Schweizer on May 13, 1996. Whitacre’s travel plans from an analysis of his expense reports.

230–31
Timing and other details of Weatherall’s retirement from copies of items presented to him at his farewell reception.

231
Details of the Degussa investigation from a June 20, 1994, memo written by James Baker, a trial attorney for the Justice Department’s Fraud Section, to an official with the economic crimes unit of the FBI. Dahle’s trip to Washington was described in a teletype from FBI-Mobile to FBI headquarters, dated June 23, 1994. The identity of Kyle Rountree as the cooperating witness in this case was learned from a nongovernmental source.

CHAPTER TEN

232
The July 12 contact from Supervisory Special Agent Dan Larkin of the fraud unit is described in a teletype, dated July 15, 1994, from the Springfield Field Division to FBI headquarters.

232
The document described is the Baker memo, dated June 20, 1994.

233–37
Some details of the August 1 meeting with Whitacre from a 302 of that meeting.

237–39
The August 10 meeting between the Fraud Section and the antitrust team was described in an August 12, 1994, teletype from FBI-Springfield to FBI headquarters.

239
Some details of the Players Riverboat Casino, as well as the state ordinances on casino gambling boats, from David Snyder, “Lake Charles Bets on Its Boat,’’
New Orleans Times Picayune
, December 6, 1993, p. A1; and Richard Stewart, “Lake Charles Casino Takes Care and Cash of Senior Gamblers,’’
Houston Chronicle
, January 8, 1995, State section, p. 1.

239–40
The August 24 conversation with Rountree, the cooperating witness in the Mobile case, was described in limited portions of a 302 from that date reviewed by the author.

240–41
Dialogue from the September 12, 1994, meeting between Whitacre and Andreas from a transcript of tape 1B118 for case #60A-SI-46290.

241–42
Details of Howard Buffett’s experiences involving Congressman Durbin and the football tickets from a 302 of Buffett’s first FBI interview, conducted by Special Agent Robert Dale Schuler on June 27, 1995. Durbin was not mentioned by name in the 302, but his identity was determined and confirmed by the author. Through a spokeswoman, Durbin said that he recalled attending a Bears football game with Buffett, but added that he had never requested any tickets and would not do so. Nothing in the text is intended to imply that Durbin made such a request.