Whitacre faces a second trial next year on additional charges of working to fix prices for the livestock-feed supplement lysine, along with Michael Andreas, the son of ADM chairman Dwayne Andreas, and retired executive Terrance Wilson.
Attorneys for Andreas and Wilson expected Whitacre to plead guilty. At a hearing last week, Wilson's lawyer, Reid Weingarten, said, ``There is a great likelihood [Whitacre] will make peace with the government.''
Lawyers for the three men could not be reached for comment yesterday.
In the course of the unusual case, Whitacre's role changed from that of key FBI informant to admitted criminal.
For the FBI, he secretly tape-recorded conversations of executives from ADM and other companies during a three-year investigation. He subsequently was fired amid charges that he embezzled money from the company.
That charge created an odd situation in which the Justice Department's criminal unit was investigating fraud allegations against the central witness in the antitrust division's price-fixing investigation.
Whitacre's relationship with the Justice Department deteriorated, and he eventually was charged with criminal price-fixing along with Andreas and Wilson. ADM pleaded guilty to price-fixing charges a year ago and agreed to pay a record $100 million fine.
Whitacre originally pleaded not guilty to both sets of charges, saying the money he embezzled was part of company-approved, off-the-books payments to top executives to avoid paying income taxes.
Whitacre still faces a $31 million civil suit by ADM. He filed for bankruptcy protection last month.
