Original subtitles

Downloaded from YTS.MX

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[♪♪♪]

MARK: You know that orange juice you have every morning?

You know what's in that?

Corn.

And you know what's in the maple syrup

you put on your pancakes?

You know what makes it taste so good?

Corn. And when you're good and help with the trash,

you know what makes the big, green bags biodegradable?

Do you?

Uh-huh. Corn.

Corn starch.

But daddy's company didn't come up

with that one. DuPont did.

Porsche or "Porsce-ah"? I've heard it both ways.

Three years in Germany, I should know that.

What's German for "corn"? The German word I really like

is"Kugelschreiber." That's "pen."

All those syllables just for pen.

Archer Daniels Midland.

Most people have never heard of us,

but chances are they've never had a meal we're not part of.

Just read the side of the package.

That's us. Now ADM is taking the dextrose from the corn

and turning it into an amino acid called lysine.

It's all very scientific,

but if you're a stockholder,

all that matters is corn goes in one end

and profit comes out the other.

We have the largest lysine plant in the world here.

That's where I come in.

Hey, Kirk. Mark.

When are we gonna get out there

and hit some balls? Anytime.

What do they pay Kirk? What does a guy like that get?

I bet he gets a hundred grand. He's just gonna sit

behind that desk and ride it into the future.

Guten Morgen.

Morning, Mark.Morning.

They have the lysine results.

Great.Good.

MAN: We adjusted the dextrose levels again,

but the virus keeps showing up.

I thought we had it surrounded this time.

We started a new set of cultures.

[MACHINERY WHIRRING]

MARK: We'll get it. We just have to stay

after it. I mean, the things eat sugar

and that's what we're giving them.

A warm place filled with sugar.

ANDREAS: The fucking thing is supposed to produce

113,000 tons annually.

We're not gonna get anywhere close to that.

We've got over $150 million in costs over there, guys.

WILSON: Do the Japanese have this kind of problems with lysine?

I don't give a shit about the Japanese.

You've gotta get the goddamn lysine bugs

to eat some dextrose and shit us out some money.

We're still having problems with this virus.

ANDREAS: I don't want to hear about the virus anymore.

Terry, how much are we losing a month?

We are down, like, seven million per.

That's not gonna fly much longer.

You want to go in there next month,

tell my father we're sucking the hind tit on this?

I sure don't.

We're number 44 on the Fortune 500list, Mark.

I don't want this turning us into number 45.

Fix it.

MARK: You feed a chicken a diet of corn

and it gets sick, like what happened

to the first settlers.

Pellagra disease. Niacin deficiency.

Gave them all sorts of problems:

dermatitis, ataxia, even dementia.

But you feed a chicken corn and lysine

and it goes from egg to supermarket fryer

in six months instead of eight.

GINGER: Mark?

Where are you?

Hey, you look great.

Oh.

Hey, they got the first wall of the stables up. See that?

You know they're doing a new thing in hydroponics?

They're now feeding lysine to the jumbo shrimp.

Yeah. Can you imagine that?

You're a jumbo shrimp and one day

some corn goes floating by.

What do you think about that?

Weird, right?

There's an opening down in the plant in Mexico.

They might need me to go down and set some stuff up.

What do you think about Mexico?

I thought we were getting horses.

"Toro."

That's what Spanish bullfighters say,

but it's also what the Japanese call

the high-end tuna sushi.

Toro. Raw fish.

Who went first on that one? The guy without the grill.

I've been to Tokyo.

They sell little-girl underwear

in the vending machines right on the main drag,

the Ginza, or whatever.

Guys in suits buying used girl panties.

How is that okay?

[PHONE RINGS]

That's not okay.

Yeah.

LIZ [ON PHONE]: There's a Mr. Nakawara

calling from the Ajinomoto Corporation.

He says he-- You know him and he needs to speak with you.

Yeah, put him through.

It's the Japanese.

There's this guy, Nakawara. He works at Ajinomoto.

He was here a couple weeks ago. You met him.

I've been talking to him on the phone,

sometimes at work, but sometimes from home

because of, you know, the time difference.

Mick, this guy knew everything.

Everything. He says to me,

"Hey, you know that total nightmare

you guys had May, June, July?"

Before I can ask him what he's talking about, he goes:

"No, you know what I mean.

"Those months when ADM was losing

$7 million a month in the lysine business."

Mick, I couldn't believe it. He goes on to tell me

that one of our highest-paid employees

is actually an employee of Ajinomoto,

who is sabotaging the plant.

They're injecting a virus into the dextrose

and contaminating the whole deal.

That's the problem.

I'm telling you, Mick, it is-- It's like Rising Sun.

It's like the Crichton novel. It's just like that.

So I go, "Why are you talking to me about this?"

You know what he says?

Yeah, yeah. I know what he says.

How much does he want?

Ten million dollars.

Ten million, but that gives you

the-the identity of the saboteur,

the secret identity, and a new lysine bug

that is immune to the virus.

We have the plant up and running, three days.

How well do you know this guy?

[SIGHS]

I met him when he was here, you know.

We've spoken on the phone half a dozen times.

So not very well.

Very well? No, I wouldn't say that.

If you hear from him again, talk him down on the price.

Find out the least amount of money he'd settle for.

I mean, if we can get a bug that's resistant to the virus,

this might be worth it,

but I want you to keep this secret.

If there is a mole,

I don't want him to know that we're on to him.

Absolutely.

[♪♪♪]

MARK: This would be a great place for some outlet stores.

People would come from all over southern Illinois,

probably Missouri too.

Famous name-brand labels and appliances

at savings of up to 50 percent every day.

Maybe a food court with a Mexican place.

The birds eat the bugs, the cars eat the birds,

the rust eats the cars

and new construction eats the rust.

GINGER: Corky!

Alexander says there's a bat in his room.

The FBI?

God, no.

I thought you wanted me to talk him down on the price.

That's what you told me to do and I was doing it.

Well, we're not gonna sit back and let the Japanese

fuck us sideways on this.I don't even understand.

We weren't gonna mention it and now he's in on it?

ANDREAS: Well, of course he's in on it.

If there's a mole, it's a security issue.

I'll be sitting in with the FBI.

I already told you everything there is to tell.

I mean, what is the point?

CHEVIRON: Mark. Calm down. All right? We don't like the idea

of talking to the FBI any more than you do.

They're just gonna tape the guy's calls,

ask you a few questions. No big deal.

Questions?

Pfft. Jesus.

Mark?

GINGER: The FBI?

Why do you have to talk to the FBI?

It's their plant. Just--

Just let them talk to the FBI.

Babe, I-I am really uncomfortable with this.

There-- There are some things that are going on here.

What does that mean, "things"?

MARK [ON PHONE]: It just-- It means...

that we have to be careful.

Well, whatever you do, Corky, no matter what's going on,

just be honest with them and tell them the truth, okay?

MARK: He said he wanted the money wired,

uh, into a numbered account in Switzerland

and then also in the Caribbean.

[WRITING ON PAPER]

FBI AGENT: Uh...

And when did you last have, uh, contact with him?

Two days ago.

But I think he's getting suspicious.

I've been dragging this thing along.

I-I think if we don't make a move...

I mean, he could already have backed down here.

And these calls, they've been coming in on your home line?

Well, I-I have an ADM line at my house.

It's a business line.

They've been coming in on the business line.

Well, uh, I think we should start with, um,

putting a recording device on your phone.

There's a sale at Bachrach's.

They have those Oscar de la Renta ties

that nobody buys.

What are they, two for one for another week?

Diagonal bands of color hanging around your neck.

They never put the nice Brioni ties on sale.

I should just get all my ties in Paris,

wear them once or twice

and shove them in a duty-free bag.

Nobody gets stopped at customs for ties.

I can help with that.

[EXHALES HEAVILY]

So.

That's it, then.

I can go?

Um, listen. Why don't--?

[CLEARS THROAT]

I'd like to come out tomorrow,

get on that phone.

Great. No problem.

[♪♪♪]

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

You told the truth, Mark. That's all you can do.

I never even had the chance.

They were watching me the whole time.

Cheviron was in the room.

[♪♪♪]

Mick Andreas gets to born with the vice president

of the United States as his godfather.

He goes to Richard Nixon's house for Thanksgiving.

It's not like his parents died in a car accident

when he was 3 and he ended up in an orphanage.

Mick's dad wrote a check to the Nixon campaign

and it wound up in the account of the Watergate burglars.

Did he admit it? I don't think so.

Besides, ADM probably owns the FBI.

They probably wanted me to move

into Dwayne's old house when I took this job,

because they got it wired like in a Crichton novel.

Marty Allison called.

And Sid Hulse wants to know

if you can have dinner at 7:00 instead of 7:30.

[SILVERWARE CLUNKING]

SID: Great earrings, Ginger.

Bet you can see those shining from space.

Mark got them abroad.

I can't remember where.

Nigeria?

Not funny, Sid.

You're telling me.

[CHUCKLES]

MARK: So, Sid, you're off tomorrow?

Where to?

SID: West Coast swing.

Gotta get up there. Kick some Japanese butt.

MARK: So I'm not gonna see you for a couple of weeks?

Maybe longer if I get lost in the Ginza.

Have a great trip, Sid.

[WHISPERING] Just tell them everything.

We'll leave.

I don't like what this company is doing to you.

This is a chance to start somewhere new.

Remember, you said Mexico?

I may tell them at some point,

but now, I gotta toe the company line here.

Mark.

If you don't tell them, I will.

I can't.

Not now.

[DOORBELL DINGS]

[DOOR OPENS]

Hello. Please.

Agent Shepard, my wife, Ginger.

SHEPARD: Ma'am. I, uh, know it's late.

I'll be out of your hair in a minute.

Great. Maybe a cup of coffee for Agent Shepard?

Okay.

SHEPARD: Just show me where the, uh-- The line in question...

MARK: It's that one over there.

There should be a TV show

about a guy who calls home one day and he's there.

He answers, he's talking to himself,

only it's someone else.

He's somehow divided into two

and the second one of him drives away.

The rest of the show is about him trying to find the guy.

I'll give you a call tomorrow. We can test it out.

Great. Great. Okay. Thank you for coming by.

Good night. Night.

Good night, Mrs. Whitacre.

Good night.

Are you gonna say something, or am I?

[WHISPERING] Just don't.

[CAR DOOR OPENS]

Brian?

Hey, got a minute?

Um...

[WHISPERING] Can I talk to you in the car?

Sure.

[CAR DOOR SHUTS, OPENS]

[CAR DOOR SHUTS]

We could go back inside if you want.

I think they might have it bugged.

We're safer out here.

Bugged?

What?

Who?

Us?

All right, there's things I know.

If I decide to tell you, could I be prosecuted?

Well, I cannot provide you with immunity,

but any information you tell me

about your involvement in criminal activity

would be discussed in a favorable light

with the U.S. Attorney's office.

Okay. Everything I told you yesterday

about Nakawara was true. Absolutely.

Except one thing.

He never called me on my business line.

Well, why did you tell me that he did?

Before I spoke with you yesterday,

I was coached by the guys at ADM to tell you

that he called on my business line and not my home line.

Why?

What I'm about to tell you,

it involves something very large.

This Nakawara extortion thing is nothing compared to it,

nothing at all.

This involves price fixing in the lysine business.

Now--Oh, oh, wait. Wait, hang on.

[OPENS BRIEFCASE]

Take some notes.

[SIGHS]

Okay, go on.

Price fixing in the lysine business.

I have been in several meetings

with our Japanese and Korean competitors

over the last few months,

where the sole purpose was to fix the prices.

ADM made me go to those meetings.

See, that's why they wanted me to lie.

Because the Nakawara calls came in on my home line,

but so do the calls from the people

we're fixing prices with.

They don't want you to hear those conversations,

so they instructed me to tell you the Nakawara calls

came in on my ADM line. But see, I realized

that once you guys started digging around in the records,

you'd see that I have all these calls to Japan. Right?

That's what scared me. Nobody's got more calls than me.

So if you figure out the price-fixing thing,

I'd be the fall guy.Who told you

to participate in these price-fixing talks?

I'm operating under the direction

of Mick and Dwayne Andreas.

[ENGINE STARTS]

He seems like a real good guy.

I hope he doesn't mind me calling him Brian

instead of Agent Shepard.

I might even try "Bri" out.

This must be very different for him,

talking to a guy like me instead of a bank robber

or a drug dealer.

I could see us fishing or whatever.

What a good listener.

You don't meet one of those every day.

[♪♪♪]

Morning.

Morning.

What happened last night?

What do you mean? Nothing. Well, they put a...

recorder on the phone.

That's it?

Well, yeah.

He said when Nakawara calls

I just flip a switch and record the conversation.

[PHONE RINGS]

Yeah?

Oh. Put her through.

Make sure you do it, okay?

They have ways of checking up.

Sure thing.

Hi, hon.

What?

What--? Slow down, honey, slow--

What?

What?

SHEPARD: A pound of bacon,

a peanut butter sandwich, some vitamins.

[♪♪♪]

Anything that ADM has a hand in, it's all fixed.

That's what he's telling me.

I mean, basically--

I mean, everyone in this country is a victim of corporate crime

by the time they finish breakfast.

You think the automobile companies can't make a car

tomorrow that gets 100 miles to the gallon?

You think the TV networks don't know who's gonna win

the World Series before the season starts?

Paranoid is what people who are trying to take advantage

call you in an effort to get you to drop your guard.

I read that the other day in an in-flight magazine.

One potential problem I see moving ahead with ADM

is this guy Cheviron.

He wants to be kept in on the loop

on-on everything that we're doing.

I want to meet Mark Whitacre.

You said they were only gonna tap

one line.

One line.

They are only monitoring one line.

That is not true. That is absolutely not true!

I just got off the phone with my wife.

And some woman named Regina at the phone company called her

and said that both my lines are tapped.

My home phone!Come on, Mark--

Mark, the phone company doesn't call people and say:

"Hello, we just wanted to let you know

that the FBI is tapping your phone lines."

Then why would Regina say that?

She didn't say it.

You're saying it.

Call my wife.

Call Regina. Fine. Mark.

I will. All right? I will.

Good.

I don't like wool on skin.

Not even that merino wool they have

at Marshall Field in Chicago.

Ginger likes it because it's formfitting,

but she likes avocados

and who wants that texture in their mouth?

Who'd make up someone named "Regina"?

It's the capital of Saskatchewan.

[RINGS]

FBI, Shepard.

CHEVIRON: Hello, Brian. It's Mark Cheviron at ADM.

Yeah, Mark.

Hey, I was talking to you guys a couple days ago

about which of the lines at Mark Whitacre's house

you would be monitoring and we had agreed

it would only be the business line,

so that's all you did, right?

I really can't answer that.

Um-- Okay.

Thank you.

[♪♪♪]

We have decided we will no longer be cooperating

with any further FBI requests.

I knew it. I knew it.

And I told you and you wouldn't listen.

You said, "Just the office line, Mark."

Evidently, they were lying to us too.

Well, evidently you can't keep track

of what the FBI's doing.

[PHONE RINGING]

Yeah?

LIZ [ON PHONE]: The call you were expecting, Mark?

Well, put him through.

It's a Swedish deal I'm working on.

Mark Whitacre.

Hey, Mark, it's Brian Shepard.

I told Shepard we're done working with him as of now.

Hi. So good to hear from you.

Listen, I want to bring my supervisor by to meet you.

This weekend be okay?

Well, great.

Well, so-- Mr. Andreas is in my office right now.

SHEPARD [ON PHONE]: Okay.So I'll talk to you later.

Okay.Good.

Now, what do I do if this Shepard guy calls?

You let me know about it, and I'll tell my dad,

but you're done talking to them.

Absolutely.

[♪♪♪]

Okay, guys, I'm gonna go over the rules.

There's no running, no pushing, no horseplay by the pool,

and when you have fished all the leaves out

you go into the garage and get the cover for the pool.

And I'm gonna go get your dad when he's done

and he's gonna come and do an inspection.

What was that, honey?

ALEXANDER: You already told us this.

GINGER: Honey, well, I'm going over it again.

Now, what is the scoop with all my phones being tapped?

The only listening device was the recorder, Mark.

We had a trap-and-trace device on your home line,

but we can't listen in on that.

However,

the phone company calling your wife

and telling her about our intel gathering...

Well, my face is red on that one.

Shouldn't happen.

Did you bring the expense reports we talked about?

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, this is Mexico City, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo.

Now, there was a meeting of the Corn Refiners Association

in Florida last week. Mick and Terry went to that one.

They were doing the regular meeting during the day,

and at night, they'd get together with our competitors

and they all work out how to fix the prices.

Now, you just watch. In about six months

the price of a liter of soda pop

is gonna be about 5 cents more.

Well, when's the next meeting?

Uh, January. Uh, somewhere in Asia.

Mark, I gotta ask you. Why are you doing this?

We know you lied to us about the phone line

and you're afraid of that,

but now you're telling us all this other stuff

out of the blue. Got to ask you why.

Well, because things are going on I don't approve of.

Now, I'm a biochemist. Yeah, I'm a technical guy.

And they pull me into the business side

and suddenly I find out all these things are going on

that are illegal.

You know, if I want to grow with ADM,

I gotta learn the business side.

And so suddenly I'm lying to people.

They're making me lie to people.

I lie to you.

I mean, I feel real bad about that.

You look at yourself as wearing a white hat

and-and they're wearing black hats?

Yeah. Absolutely. Something like that.

You know, when I was a kid,

my-my folks died in an automobile accident.

I was maybe six years old

and a wealthy man from Ohio adopted me.

Guy owned amusement parks. He did very well for himself.

Now, I caught a big break there, real big break.

I went to a good school and all.

Now I adopted two kids of my own.

I'm-- I'm trying to do the right thing here.

Well, Mark,

do you think you'd be willing to go a few steps further

in helping us?

What does that mean?

SHEPARD: Would you...

be willing to wear a wire?

We don't have any other sources

at this time, we--

We need your help.

PAISLEY: We'll be there with you all the way.

It won't be easy.

I'll use my beeper to signal you

when it's time to set up a meeting.

When you hear this:

You know-- Right?[PAGER BEEPING]

You call me.

SHEPARD: He's watched closely at work

and there's reason to believe that ADM has bugged his home.

He's under a great deal of pressure.

I mean, you gotta feel for the guy.

He tells us the truth one day

and wakes up the next with two lives instead of one.

Well, the good news is he decided to wake up

and tell the truth.

[♪♪♪]

MARK: There are these butterflies in Central America.

They're blue and orange and yellow

and have poison in their wings.

Just enough poison to stop a bird heart,

but the birds know this somehow,

so they don't eat them.

But there are other ones, butterflies,

they're orange, blue and yellow too,

but no poison wings.

They're just flying around, looking dangerous,

getting by on their looks.

Hey, Mark.

Hi, Brian.Ready to make the call?

BOY: Hey, wait up, dipshit.

We're gonna do it here?

We can't get a room. There's, uh, problems with that.

Um... [CLEARS THROAT]

I don't know, it just kind of seems, you know, awkward.

It's the best I can do right now.

Okay.

[BRIEFCASE THUDS]

Just--

Hold the microphone against the receiver

and I'll hold the recorder.

Zero-zero-nine...

454...

58822.

Thank you.

No, no, put it on the receiver.

Mr. Yamamoto, please.

The receiver.

I have it on the receiver.

No, the receiver, where you hear.

I'm on hold.

Hello, Mr. Yamamoto. It is Mark Whitacre.

[♪♪♪]

Hi, sir. How are you?

No, I'm doing a lot of traveling this week,

a lot of traveling.

How are sales?

Certainly we need to-- In terms of our--

In terms of our big customers,

we definitely need to be thinking about

a good price, yes?

MARK: It's better to maintain a price of $2.50

in other countries and $1.05 for the United States,

and just like that, there it is: price fixing.

SHEPARD: Well, this is great, Mark.

This verifies everything you've been saying.

Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Yeah. Absolutely.

I like an indoor pool. Year-round usage.

I like the steam off it in the winter.

Very mysterious, that steam.

Well, Marty,

when you started work at ADM, how much money did you want?

I wanted 50 grand.

But I went and told Terry,

"We can't get this guy for less than 75."

Yeah. I know.I got it for you.

You were the first person I hired.

I know, Mark. You've always been really generous with me.

And I appreciate it.

Here's what I want you to do.

I want you to write down a name.

Okay. What's the name?

"Nordkron Chemie."

What is that, like, a Nigerian name or something?

I like my hands.

I think they're probably my favorite part of my body.

I think that can be used to my advantage

in social situations.

If I can get people focused on my hands,

then I can get a good result in the meeting.

Eye contact is real important too.

Hey, I'm gonna check messages.

Good seeing you again.[BEEPING]

Things good?Yeah, things are good.

You guys heading back today? Stick around?

DIGITAL VOICE [ON TAPE]: You have one message.

[PAGER BEEPING]

Sorry, guys. My phone died. I was on with the plant.

Is there a-a payphone, a public--?

Across the lobby. Right, okay.

Mark, this is important bioproduct stuff.

I know. Hi, Dave, how you doing? How's Holly doing?

She's good. Great.

It's the plant.

SHEPARD [ON PHONE]: FBI.

Brian, it's Mark.

I told you, I'm out of town on business this week.

The case is getting some attention

from the Bureau, Mark.

There's another agent working with me now.

I can't talk right now. I gotta go. I have a meeting.

I have people waiting for me. Bye.

[♪♪♪]I'm here, Dave.

Being able to do two things at once

is a big part of success.

I try and do abdominal exercises-- Isometrics.

- -even when I'm at a meeting. Tensing.

Holding. And then releasing.

I'll even floss in the shower

while the conditioner is in my hair,

during the part when you're just supposed to leave it in.

Those things can really add up to a significant time savings.

Hey, Kirk.

I'll be heading off to Europe

and I was thinking I could just hand deliver that check

for the ABP deal in person.

Remind me. ABP deal?

It's a threonine microbe.

They're just making substantial improvements.

We want to get into the market. That's the invoice.

We'll just overnight it.

No, no, I'm gonna see this Thorstensson guy,

so I'll just hand it to him.

[♪♪♪]

The metric system never panned out.

We all had rulers

with inches on one edge, centimeters on the other.

I pronounced it "centimiters" instead of "centimeters"

and nobody ever corrected me, they let me walk around stupid,

so I'm not upset we never crossed over,

although it's helpful to know the conversions

when I go to Europe.

The liter bottle is the thing that caught on

because it's a nicer word, "liter" than "quart."

Quart.

MARTY [ON PHONE]: Mark, it's Marty calling again.

[PHONE BEEPS]

DIGITAL VOICE: Message deleted.

[PAGER BEEPING]

[BEEPS]

[RINGS]

FBI, Agent Shepard.

Brian, it's Mark.

Look, it's been hard for me to return a page

as I am out of the country at the moment.

Listen, we need to know if you've had

any further contact with Nakawara.

I told you already that the guy stopped calling.

Well, what about the price fixing?

Have you been able to make any more tapes?

I think you guys hanging around

has everybody scared straight.

The word is we're doing everything by the book now.

Mick said it's over. No more price fixing.

What? W-W-When did this happen, th-this conversation?

Everything has changed. I got lysine up and running.

The virus is gone.

Mick brought me into his office, he sat me down.

He said, "Whitacre, from now on we're doing things your way."

Mark.

Look, Mark, the FBI knows about the crimes.

We're gonna investigate either way.

Either way? What-what does "either way" mean?

We really need to get together.

I-- It is a different approach there now.

I'm telling you, it's all--

It's-- Everything's changed.

My plane is boarding. I gotta go. I gotta go.

Ah!

Everything okay?

Yeah, fine.

Kids.

[BOTH SPEAK IN GERMAN]

Where were we?

We were discussing bonuses.

And we should be discussing Ferraris.

[SPEAKING IN GERMAN]

You have Fullfederhaltertinte all over your shirt.

Oh.

One of the Japanese guys told me a story.

This lysine salesman is in a meeting with someone

from ConAgra or some other company, I don't know,

and the client leans forward and says:

"I have the same tie as you, only the pattern is reversed."

And then he drops dead, face down on the table.

Alive and then dead.

Brain aneurysm.

Maybe everyone has a sentence like that,

a little time bomb.

"I have the same tie as you, only the pattern's reversed."

Dead. The last thing they'll ever say.

Something like...

High-fructose corn syrup. There it is again.

SHEPARD: He said that Andreas called him into a marketing meeting.

He might be late, he...

If he doesn't show,

the government ought to charge him for the room.

[PHONE RINGS]

And here it comes.

Shepard.

MARK: I can't come to the hotel tonight.

I'm still at work.

SHEPARD: Mark, this is the third time.

Look, I gotta go. I-I have work to do.

Mark, you can't keep canceling.

Look, I can't live two lives.

They-- They just offered me a $100,000 raise, okay?

I'm not gonna lose my job because of you guys.

I have a family. I'm building stables across the road.

Yeah, but you told us--

The price fixing is over. It's over.

Hey, Mick. I'm-I'm getting off the phone now.

Mark, listen to me.

The only logical thing for you to do is cooperate.

What happens if I don't?

Then somebody else will,

and you'll end up being a defendant.

The tapes don't say anything, because it's over. Mick said.

We have a whole new policy.

Fine, if that's what he said.

Then I want to hear the tape. We need tapes, Mark.

Okay, I never made any tapes.

Mark.I never made any tapes

because there's not gonna be anything on the tapes

because it's over and they'd just be stupid tapes.

Mark, come on.Look, how--?

You tell me how I can prove it to you and I will.

[♪♪♪]

[BOTH SPEAKING INAUDIBLY]

Mick Andreas and his dad would never lie for me.

They say we're in it together. What a joke.

Team-building offsite meetings at some lake in Wisconsin.

I can't protect these guys if they're breaking the law.

Hey, I tried. Anybody could see the choices I had.

I did my best for ADM.

You don't see them here in the chair.

[KNOCK ON DOOR]

Hey, how'd I do?

SHEPARD: Mark, we have some problems.

Wait a minute. Hold on. I was looking at the thing.

The needle didn't even move.

Mark, you don't know how to read a polygraph.

Well, first of all, they're not 100 percent accurate.

Mark, you splattered the walls with ink.

Come on. Extortionists just don't leave

their name and number and then go away.

SHEPARD: I know it's tough,

keeping it all bottled up inside,

keeping it a secret,

but there's only one good choice for you here,

that's all there's ever been.

There's something you're hiding,

something you're not telling us,

but the only way to protect yourself

is to be completely honest.

Okay.

Okay.

[SIGHS]

You realize that, uh...

this can all be used against you in a court of law.

I'll have to write it all up and you'll have to sign it.

We're going to find out what's going on, Mark.

You're not leaving this room

until you tell us what's going on.

SHEPARD: So before you answer any more questions,

I want you to think about Ginger

and your family, and your career.

HERNDON: What happened with Nakawara?

Is there a mole?

Well, yeah, I-I think there has definitely been a mole

before at ADM.

I made it up.Jesus, Mark.

MARK: I had to.

Look, we-we've had--

We've had problems with viruses at the plant

and-and-and we're way behind our projections

and Dwayne is thinking about shutting us down

and everybody's looking to me to fix it.

It's all "Blame it on Whitacre."

That's how it is over there.

We're talking about my job here.

They-- I came all the way over from Europe,

relocated my family. They made me a VP.

Uh-- Uh-- What about the price fixing?

It isn't over, is it?

I mean, there's no new attitude, right?

It's been going on as recently as three weeks ago.

Nothing's changed.

It's not just lysine. It's citric, it's gluconate...

There was a guy who left the company

because he wouldn't do it. He was forced out.

The gluconate guy, he's out of a job.

I met with the guys from Ajinomoto

just last month in Chicago.

The whole point was to-to-to actually set-set volume levels.

You set the volume levels, determine what the market is,

and then you figure out workable prices.

And we got another meeting next month.

If there's anything else you want to add, now is the time.

What else is there?

[♪♪♪]

Seven-thirty a.m., March 17th, 1993.

I have parked the car.

I am approaching the entrance to the office.

Entrance breached.

Terrance Wilson. President of our corn businesses.

Did our friend from Japan call last night?

No, he wasn't in.

Well, I spoke with Mimoto

and he is pissed.

He says there will be no peace in lysine

until we bring production down to the levels we promised.

Well, in '92, we did exactly what we told him we would do

in terms of volume.

Exactly. Now, no promise.

Well, he says he wants to talk to you.

Yeah? Well, I'll be right there saying,

"You listen here, you little mousy motherfucker."

That was Terry Wilson talking about setting volume

and price levels with our Japanese competitor

Ajinomoto Corporation.

By the way, there was no discussion

with Mimoto last night. I did that

for illustration purposes only.

I repeat, no discussion with Mimoto.

LIZ: Morning, Mark.

Good morning, Liz Taylor, secretary.

[SPEAKS IN JAPANESE]

Please, come in.

Hello. Good morning.

Good morning. Hello. Good morning. Good morning.

Before we even deal with Latin America,

we have to agree that we are gonna swap numbers.

It's the only way this is gonna work.

Keep everybody on target.

It's possible to do. Got to be very careful.

Need to check your phones.

[EXHALES HEAVILY]

Excuse me, I need a comfort break.

Pardon me.

Side two, tape one.

[♪♪♪]

I've got well over two million frequent flyer miles.

I'm pretty much platinum across the board.

I get a letter from the CEO every year, thanking me.

It's a form letter,

but it looks like he's signing it.

They probably walk in and he signs,

like, a hundred while he's on the phone.

Oh, it went great. I think we're gonna be able to keep it

at a buck and a quarter.

[SNEEZES]

Now what happens?

Something you breathe in on an airplane,

some little bacteria and now it's in his hands,

the cup, the phone. Probably got it from his kids

and now I'll spend the weekend with it in bed.

I'll miss a few days or Alexander will run a fever

and who pays for that?

Where does the FBI weigh in on that

as a cooperating witness?

What does it say about exposure

to airborne contaminants?

[WHISPERING] Tape seven, side two. Chicago, O'Hare.

Once again, Terry Wilson representing ADM.

Representing Eurolysine,

Alain Crouy and Philippe Rollier.

That's a French company.

That's a big break right there. Absolutely.

There's no choices to be made, no debate.

You're an ant, you just eat it.

- WILSON: - -part of the world where it works

and the rest of the world where it doesn't.

It will not last.

Terry, Alain, Philippe, bonjour.

Hi.

We obviously would play the game,

but the Koreans and the Japanese...

They cheat.

Then it won't work.

Well, you make it work

in the other divisions. Tell them.

Terry doesn't like me very much.

He's got blotchy skin.

What causes that blotchiness?

It must mean something medical.

He'll have a stroke and someone will say,

"He was blotchy. It happens."

Let's not forget that if prices went up in Europe,

it's because we talked in Mexico first.

That's right. You made it happen.

It was our pleasure.

Mark, these are just the kind of tapes we need.

And we're getting our marching orders from Andreas.

See? Goes right to the top.

We need to improve the quality of these recordings.

[BLOWER WHIRRING]

[HORN HONKS]

MARK: Hey, Rusty.Hey.

Take a look at something.

[SIGHS]

What do you think?

That's a nice briefcase.

But wait.

There's more.

That is a Nagra SN.

Had the Bureau custom-make it for me.

Mark Whitacre, secret agent 0014.

Why 0014?

Because I'm twice as smart as 007.

Ah. Thank you again.

[CHUCKLES]

Whatever happened to that girl who worked for us?

Didn't she move to California? What was her name? Tina?

Oh, Tina. Yeah, she's getting married.

Ugh. My Tina's getting married?

She's getting married two or three weeks from now.

Oh-ho-ho-ho.

Well, that won't last long. She's a bit of a dodo-head.

[LAUGHS]

She'll be back.

I just hope she doesn't get pregnant

and fuck up that body.

She had a nice body. It'll ruin her tits.

When polar bears hunt, they crouch down

by a hole in the ice and wait for a seal to pop up.

They keep one paw over their nose so that they blend in,

because they've got those black noses.

They'd blend in perfectly if not for the nose.

So the question is,

how do they know their noses are black?

From looking at other polar bears?

Do they see their reflections in the water,

and think, "I'd be invisible if not for that"?

That seems like a lot of thinking for a bear.

ANDREAS: Remember to pat them down for wires before the meeting.

What?Yeah, that's a new policy.

Whenever we meet with the Japanese.

You're kidding, right? I didn't get a memo.

Mick, I didn't get any kind of memo on that.

He's kidding. Relax, Mark.

They don't have the balls to mess with ADM.

When it's over, the board of directors at ADM

is gonna understand. They're gonna see the position

I was in and that I acted in everyone's best interest.

I think that's the only conclusion they can reach.

I'm the youngest division president they've ever had

and I speak a number of languages fluently.

[MEN CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY ON TV]

[CONVERSING IN JAPANESE]

Would you like some coffee or fruits?

SHEPARD: No.

No.

Mark, no.

No.

I told him the camera was in the lamp.

IKEDA: We already spend more than one year

to get better market situation in lysine.

We talked a little bit about it in Paris,

but we need to come to an understanding on volume.

We have public shareholders.Can you--?

You need to widen out a little bit.

We need to show them working together.

ANDREAS: Now the question is:

If the market grows, who gets it?

If Kyowa Hakko, Miwon and Cheil Corporation

each get 2000 tons, we can divide up the rest.

[WHIRRING]

If we're gonna have any stability at all.

IKEDA: We need-- We need some specific number.

Well, what would you be willing to accept?

Isn't that really the question?

YAMADA: ADM has already eaten all the growth.

ANDREAS: We have a lot more capacity that we're not using.

We could be growing 20,000 tons.

Isn't that right, Mark?

HERNDON: I'm going in. We gotta shut this down.

SHEPARD: No, wait. Hold on.

I need your input.I think he's got it.

IKEDA: ADM will be allocated its recent production, plus....

SHEPARD: They talk about Paris.

ROBIN: I can't understand.The meeting.

ANDREAS: We have a big board of directors.

SHEPARD: They have a big board of directors.

And shareholders.

And they're all suffering together.

Well, where's the agreement?

I-I mean, this is-- This is just a discussion.

If there isn't an agreement, what are they doing there?

You're getting bogged down

with the words. Just look at the actions.

Look what happens right here. Okay?

HERNDON: See what he's doing?

ROBIN: Yeah, I've looked and I just see

a chart with a bunch of words.

I don't even see any numbers on that.

I mean, I can't-- I can't pinpoint an agreement per se.

What more do you want? The guy is standing there

dividing up the market, plain as day.

It could just be a proposal.

All the other companies weren't there.

No one used the word "agreement."

I'm just telling you. From the perspective

of the Justice Department, it is not enough.

We're having another meeting

to work out some of the issues in lysine.

We gotta divide up the volumes and set prices

for some of the markets.

Europe again?

Europe is out.

There is a price-fixing investigation

in the cement manufacturing business there.

It's got everybody spooked, so we're not going there.

We-We can't videotape in Japan. That's not gonna help us.

I know. Hawaii.

Hawaii?

Hawaii.

[♪♪♪]

Oh!

[SPEAKING INAUDIBLY]

MARK [ON TV]: Okay. So everybody just....

WILSON: Goddamn it, Mark.

Look at the size of this. That's bullshit.

Can you call and get us a bigger room?

They have conferences, Terry.

This is the only room they have.

Will you call them, please?

I will-- I will--

Make yourselves at home, please.

I'll call. I'll call.

Do you have a suite, perhaps, that's maybe

a bit more roomy for us?

The Makuaha Room. Yes. Is that your biggest room?

It sound-- It sounds big.

But it is, I see. I see. And for the whole day?

Okay, so this is it. We're here, we're stuck.

Okay, then-then-- Then we'll make do. Thank you.

MARK: Looks like we are here to stay, definitely.

Okay. so let's settle in and start.

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

WILSON: Well, I'd like to welcome everybody here.

Mark. MARK: Let me just, uh--

Indulge me for a second? I think you might be

more comfortable if I move the chair.

Thattaboy, Mark.

[SCOFFS]

We have an old saying at ADM. I think it applies here.

"It's better to have the elephants

"inside the tent pissing out

than outside the tent pissing in."

Outside piss?

It's better to be part of the group.

What he's saying is, the customers are our enemy.

The competitors are our friend. Which is why it's important

that we have all the lysine producers involved,

including the Cheil Corporation.

I want to know why we have been excluded

from association in the past.

We need to be part of this.

How can we know that ADM will stay

at agreed-upon levels?

Well, it would be our preference

that we simply trust each other,

and if we find out someone's been lying,

we'll just hire some mafia figure to rub you out.

[ALL CHUCKLE]

That's just a little bit of levity, of course,

but the point is that if we can't trust each other,

ain't gonna work.Right.

You are okay with that?

Yes. I am all right.

So, what are we saying?

[SCOFFS]

Well, what, do you have, a language problem, Mark?

Then we are all...

Agreed. Yes!

[ALL CLAPPING]

Agreement. You heard it.

Congratulations.

Jury's gonna love that.

Well done. You did it.

Christ. How about this guy Whitacre?

What's his story?

What do you mean?

What--? What's his agenda?

The guy's making 350 grand a year,

he's moving up the ladder and he turns informer.

When does that happen? Is the money going up his nose?

Some woman somewhere with a kid

he's seeing on one of these business trips?

What's his story?

HERNDON: We wanted to show you this.

That's a picture of Mark Whitacre and his family.

We carry that with us all the time

as a constant reminder that he is a real person

with a real family depending on him.

The only reason we have any of these tapes

is because of this man.

We want to know when the time comes,

if he loses his job,

will the government stand behind him?

GINGER: Mark, are you an idiot?

Ginger, I'll be the only one left.

Mick will be gone. Terry will be gone.

Dwayne will be gone.

I am a scientist

and I understand the business side.

I'm the only one qualified to run ADM.

Mark, that's completely illogical.

How can you stay there when you've taken down the company?

Because they need me to run the company.

First of all, I'm extremely valuable to the company.

And secondly, I did the right thing.

Okay? The board is gonna see that.

The board's gonna respect that.

It's the FBI, right? They're brainwashing you.

It's Brian Shepard putting these ideas

in your head to keep you working for him.

I'm telling you, they will make me

the next president of ADM.

So this is it, huh?

Yes. How's, uh--? How's your family doing?

Oh, good. They're gonna be at an amusement park

when you guys make your move.

Whatever happens tomorrow,

I think it's in your best interest

to get an attorney who's gonna represent

your interests alone.

You want me to get an-an attorney now?

No, not now.

The first thing that's gonna happen

is the company lawyers are gonna come

to all the executives with a list of attorneys

for you to pick from.

You gotta understand,

these attorneys are paid for by ADM.

They don't represent you.

Do not pick one of these attorneys.

That's when you tell them you have your own attorney.

You need to tell them that you're cooperating

with the government.

It's perfectly reasonable for you to cooperate.

It happens all the time.

I think I know a lawyer in Decatur.

I'll talk to him. No.

The town is too small.

I'm sure you've met lawyers in your business dealings

that could handle this.

Definitely.

Now, Mark? Mark?

Once this starts, it is going to be intense.

They are going to know that somebody was on the inside

working with us,

and they're gonna do almost anything

to find out who it is.

But you guys still think I'm gonna be okay

at the company, right?

I mean, you guys are gonna take down the bad guys,

but I'll be okay, right?[CLEARS THROAT]

Well, I-I think it's important to remember

what we talked about before,

and-and what we're talking about right now

is tell them...

you're cooperating with the government.

Yeah, I know, I know, but I'm just asking

if you guys think I'm gonna be okay at the company.

The corporate culture's gonna change a little bit for you.

I should say so. Yeah.

HERNDON: We should just focus on the raid.

Right? Yes.

[♪♪♪]

WILSON: Mark, you're making that up.

No, Archer, the A in ADM,

choked to death, 1947, on a chicken bone.

Fact. Fact.

Well, there you have it, from Mark Whitacre, Ph.D.

You know what the Ph.D. stands for, don't you?

"Piled Higher and Deeper."

Heh. Let me guess.

Daniels was killed by a pig and the cows got Midland.

[ALL LAUGHING]

A chicken got Archer,

but I'll tell you what, 50 years later

our deals with Tyson Farms, Foster Farms...

What's the body count? I ask you.

Mr. Wilson, Mr. Whitacre,

I'm Bob Herndon and I'm an FBI agent.

This is Special Agent Shepard.

What the heck is going on here?

Mr. Whitacre, would you come with me?

MARK: I don't--

I have no idea what this is about.

Mr. Whitacre, please.

Could you come with us?

Do I need a lawyer?

MARK: A lawyer? Terry.Excuse me.

I saved a guy once at a restaurant in Hong Kong.

He was choking on a bone and I got him to throw himself

over the back of his chair.

He sends me cards on holidays just to say thanks.

Tells me what his kids are studying. He remembers me.

You can take basic first-aid courses

from your local fire department.

You got a reason for embarrassing

my colleague and I in front of a business prospect?

This is a serious matter.

It involves an international investigation into price fixing.

We have seen you and your boss, Mick Andreas,

conspire with your competitors to fix prices.

We have seen you tell others to do it.

There will be indictments.

Search warrants have been issued.

And some people, people who you know and work with,

will be going to jail.

MARK: Look at that. Look at that.

Look at Terry and Bob.

Oh, I wish I could be a fly on that wall.

Oh, hey, I was good, right? Didn't I seem really scared?

Listen.I actually felt scared.

Remember what we told you, all right?

Tell them you're that cooperating first thing

and whatever you do, do not take one of their lawyers.

Right. No.

MARK: What'd you say to your guy?

WILSON: Nothing, I told him nothing. Slow down.

Yeah, me neither. I said nothing.

He said that he had price-fixing tapes.

What the fuck is that?

Well, I bet they have the phones tapped.

I always said that about them. It's the phones.

I can't believe they would pull this shit

on Dwayne Andreas.

Look, I get phone calls from time to time.

I know, I know.

Oh, God.

We're going to the lawyers. I don't wanna use the phones.

See? The phones.They hit everybody.

My dad, Schmidt, Randall.

Oh, fuck me.

ANDREAS: No, they played me a tape of me.

Some meeting with the fucking Japanese.

I called the lawyers. We're gonna go there.

Yeah? They played a tape.

How the fuck did they get a tape?

ANDREAS: I don't think they have that much.

When you factor in everything that we've done for them,

this will be a 10-year thing for the lawyers, then a deal,

maybe a fine.

That's all this is ever gonna be.

Trust me.

[DOOR SHUTS]

How's it going? Good, good.

FBI.You guys safe back there?

Yeah, he's here. Yeah, I got Agent Temples

for Attorney Mutchnik.

This is James Mutchnik.

TEMPLES [ON PHONE]: Just interviewed an ADM employee, Kirk Schmidt.

Schmidt knew we were coming.

Says he knew about the raid days ago.

He says Whitacre told him.

Thanks.

He sees you sitting in the window and--

Bob. Brian.

Can I talk to you guys for a second?

That was amazing. You guys should have seen it.

Oh, Terry was so scared, and Mick and the lawyers,

they were just-- They were pissed.

SHEPARD: That's super, Mark.

The best part is they thought you guys

gave me the once-over. They're like, "You all right?"

I'm going, "Yeah, yeah--"Did you make a tape?

Yeah, I made a tape. I made a great one.

Really good.

So it's over, then.

Mark.

Who did you tell?

What?

Who else did you tell about the raid?

Well...

I had to tell my secretary.

Guys, I'm the head of the bioproducts division.

She has to know where to get in touch with me.

I told her months ago.

So all I said was,

"Liz, I'm doing some work with the FBI.

I might be out of touch for a while."

That's it. She had no idea about our case.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned the name Kathy Dougherty

a time or two in my division.

Kathy is a friend. She is a trusted ally.

And I didn't want her to be scared.

Why would you do that, Mark? Why would you tell Dougherty?

I just-- Because I didn't want her to be scared.

I trust her.

Guys, we can trust Kathy.Who else?

Don't jack us around, Mark.

Mm.

Kirk Schmidt.

I mean, Schmidty.

Look, I was-- I was afraid that he wouldn't say

anything to you guys.

That he'd clam up on account of he's loyal to me.

You could have ruined this entire operation.

Has anything gone wrong? Has anything gone wrong?

Time out. Time out. Time out.

Mark, you know what you did, in our eyes, was wrong.

It was supposed to be a secret.

Look, we can get past this,

but is there anything else that we need to know?

No.

No, not that I can think of.

Remember...to tell them that you're getting your own lawyer.

I know about the lawyers, Brian!

[♪♪♪]

MAN: I hear you.

MAN 2: Wanna give me a hand?

MAN 3: I got that.

[♪♪♪]

Mark Whitacre, Aubrey Daniel.

Pleasure to meet you.

I'm representing ADM in this matter.

Okay.

This is John Dowd, a colleague of mine.

Good morning, John.

Dwayne has filled us in

on your responsibilities here so...

Aubrey prosecuted Lieutenant Calley

after the My Lai massacre in Vietnam,

so this ought to be a cakewalk for him.

We were hoping you'd have time to sit and talk to John.

Sure.

ADM's behind you on this, Mark.

Dad and I want all the key people to know

that we're gonna be paying for all your legal fees.

Oh, great. Great. Thank you, that's great.

Then, uh-- Then we'll let you fellas

get acquainted, okay? Okay.

How you holding up, Mark?

Good. Please, sit down.Thanks.

[SIGHS]

John, can I ask you something?

Sure, anything.

If I say something to you,

are you allowed to say anything to Mick and Dwayne?

[♪♪♪]

[SPEAKING INAUDIBLY]

[SPEAKING INAUDIBLY]

Oh. Here we go.

I need to tell you I'm gonna be cooperating with the FBI.

They have hundreds of tapes.

They know all about lysine.

And John here agrees with me.

I should probably be getting another lawyer.

Oh. No question about it.

I just want to say sorry for everything that's happened.

Sorry?

What's that?

It feels good to talk, to clear the air.

You get to be like a balloon after a while,

a balloon looking for a pin to bump into

and relieve the pressure.

You could get sick from keeping it inside

and get a tumor or something.

I didn't ask for that.

I have a friend from school who has a law practice

and he's always telling me

how they can't talk about their cases.

Like inThe Firm. You can tell them anything

and they have to keep it to themselves

or they get in a lot of trouble. They're boxed.

That's what they say: "boxed."

LAWYER: So there wasn't a saboteur

in the beginning at all.

You made that up?

MARK: Well, maybe there was.

I mean, there could have been.

Okay.

ADM steals the technology from the Japanese

so I wouldn't put it past the Japanese to do

the same thing to us,

but once I told the FBI that I'd made that part up,

they said I had very little choice

but to be a cooperating witness.

And you began making tapes. How many tapes did you make?

There are over 200 tapes.

Ooh.

There are so many really nice people in the world,

people who want to help out.

Good neighbors, good listeners.

Like when they had floods out in the Mississippi

and people lose everything and are sleeping in a gym,

someone always shows up with a warm coat

for the old people and a homemade pot roast.

That's why Ginger and I bought that girl in town

a special computer after she had the spine injury.

That kind of thing really makes a difference.

Jim here strikes me as that kind of guy.

You can tell he's the one-in-a-hundred guy who,

when you come into the emergency room,

you thank your lucky stars that it's his watch.

- -illegal campaign contributions, whatever.

Whatever we're talking about.

So then I'd come back. Two nights a week or so.

Brian and Bob and I would get together,

and we'd, uh-- You know, we'd work it.

We'd build the investigation.

Get everything we needed,

gather up all the information.

Then we went to DOJ, briefed those lawyers,

and before you knew it, we were hitting ADM,

raiding the place, taking it down.

And for how long did you do this?

Work as an informant?

Mm, ah, oh. Two and a half years.

Two and a half years.

You know, and I always thought

there'd still be a place for me at ADM

when this whole thing was over.

I still have a lot of friends there.

A lot of friends.

Hey, Mark, it's a--

It's very important to your case you not discuss this

with anyone else, okay?

These people you work with, your friends,

they could end up being witnesses.

So-So Bob and I are the only people I want you to talk

to about this from now on. All right?

And I want you to know that you can tell us anything.

Okay. Yeah. Okay?

Well, they kept coming to the house

and they only had ADM's side of the story.

SHEPARD [ON PHONE]: Did you talk toThe Wall Street Journal, Mark?

What did you say? It-- It's real important

that you not talk to the press.

Me? I-I told them I had no comment,

but it didn't matter.

They had the story anyway. They already had it.

Did you see my stipple portrait? It's pretty good.

[♪♪♪]

EPSTEIN: Shit.

Fuck.

REPORTER: I'd appreciate any comment you can make on

the allegations on the TV so far.

Just a quick comment. What do you have to say?

I came out to tell you

that I'm not allowed to talk to the press at this time.

REPORTER 2: At least any comment on the effects of your actions

on ADM's declining stock prices?

What's been the reaction of your friends being taped?

Well, I'm a person of interest in an ongoing investigation.

MAN 2: Do you believe you and your family can stay in Decatur?

Has the government made arrangements to move you?

[REPORTERS SCRUMMING]

We're still getting the threatening phone calls

and I know for a fact that Dwayne and Terry

have been telling people that he wasn't a good worker

and that he can't be trusted.

We told Mark.

We told him that he had to expect the unexpected,

that he might be attacked,

that he wasn't gonna win any popularity contests for this.

Well, he just mopes around here all day,

watching the news,

looking for a glimpse of himself.

Or he's calling someone from ADM,

trying to get the latest gossip. He's...

Maybe you guys should get out of town

until the hearings start.

He's got to stop talking to people.

Well, the FBI never forced me to cooperate.

I don't owe Brian Shepard the truth.

I mean, I gave Brian Shepard two and a half years

and now I have legal bills to show for it,

and I'm the good guy in this, the guy who took on ADM.

Is Brian Shepard gonna lose his job for that?

His standard of living?

I've gone to the local junior school on career day

and talked to kids about biochemistry

and the career opportunities available.

Can Brian Shepard and Bob Herndon say that?

I'm the white hat.

I did enough for Brian Shepard.

Who's gonna take care of me? Who picks the kids up

for swimming lessons? Who has a plaque in the high school

for the Mark Whitacre Environmental Award?

Where are your friends when it's dump on Whitacre?

Where's the pot roast and the warm coat?

You can see where he-- Where he pasted it.

He's a fucking forger.

[CELL PHONE RINGS]

Mark Whitacre.

Hello, Mark. It's Aubrey Daniel.

Listen, I'm here in Mick Andreas's office

and we were wondering:

Does the name "Lennart Thorstensson"

mean anything to you?

What about, uh, "Nordkron Chemie"?

Does that ring a bell?

Well, I'll have someone get back to you on that.

Oh, sure. You do that.

[CHUCKLING]

He's going to call us back.Sure.

[ALL LAUGHING]

My lawyer's telling me not to talk to you guys,

but there's something I've been wanting to talk to you about.

Don't-- Don't tell us anything.

You have a lawyer now and it's not like it was before.

SHEPARD: We are not asking you.

Okay, what if I just put out some hypotheticals?

And, you know, I'll talk about certain financial situations

and you guys can tell me if they're wrong

or how serious they might be. Okay, for instance...

What if a company gave an executive a car?

You know, a corporate car.

And instead of driving that to work,

he drove his personal car

and he gave the company car to his daughter.

Would that be a problem?

That's it?

That--? That's the hypothetical?

That shouldn't be a problem.

Okay.

What if it was a corporate plane

and the executive was using that for personal use?

Oh. Basically the same thing.

Maybe some IRS issues, but...

Okay.

What if...

it was standard practice at ADM for executives

to regularly accept kickbacks in cash?

How much money are we talking about, Mark?

Well, Brian, hypothetically, $500,000.

How much?

It's the way things are done there.

Okay? I'm not the only one who was doing it.

Everybody's doing it.

When did this start, Mark?

December, 1991.

You, uh...

[CLEARS THROAT]

How-How were you paid?

Paid by check.

A check is deposited in various accounts

and always under the amount of $10,000.

And did any of these checks come in...

after we met?

Maybe.

[♪♪♪]

AUBREY: Two-point-five million dollars,

deposited into an account in Switzerland

while Mark Whitacre was there on ADM business.

Now, we have sworn testimony

from Mr. Lennart Thorstensson of the ABP Corporation

that he has never seen this contract,

and that his signature is forged.

Neither he nor his company have ever received this check.

Now, it is clear to us that Mark Whitacre,

driven by his own boundless ambition to take over ADM,

has attempted to frame his superiors

in a price-fixing conspiracy of his own invention.

His cooperation with the government,

merely a smokescreen to hide his lying

and cheating and stealing. We have additional information

that we are willing to share with Attorney General Reno

that the money has since been moved to Grand Cayman,

with the full knowledge and complicity

of Whitacre's FBI partners.

SHEPARD: What are they accusing me of? I want the specifics.

Are they saying I'm in cahoots with the guy?

MEDFORD: Paragraph 8 in our agreement with Whitacre

states that his actions are directly attributable

to the FBI and the United States government.

They're saying he stole two and a half million dollars

while we were running him.

But how could we know what he was doing? He came to us.

The question they're asking isn't "How could we know?"

It's "Why didn't we know?"

No. The question is, "Were they price fixing?"

The investigation has shifted from ADM to Whitacre.

Ha. Of course. ADM decides Whitacre's a thief

as soon as they find out he's working for us.

Yeah, and who's counting the money over there

if they can just lose two and a half million

for a few years and then find it in a few hours?

We gotta call Mark.

I don't want you to do that.

We're taking you off.

That's it?

We're done?

I thought the FBI never hung a witness out to dry.

He's not a witness anymore. He's a target.

MARK: I only kept a million and a half dollars.

A million and a half. And Mick knew about it.

He knows these things went on.

Who do you think taught me how to do it?

You can't bullshit these people, Mark.

Who knows what they know?

We gotta go in there with the whole story.

It gets bad for you if you tell them you'll confess and don't.

Then you're screwed.This is it.

What you have in front of you, that is it.

I've found every bank statement, every record.

Why would I hide anything from you guys?

This is it.

[♪♪♪]

Listen, I haven't been telling you guys the whole truth,

but I'm gonna clear that up in there today.

What?

No, we gotta get you out of here.

MARK: No, no, I want to tell.

Mr. Whitacre's conduct constitutes

a breach of his agreement with the U.S. government.

He is no longer a cooperating witness.

This is outrageous.

My client has given you years of his life.

Clearly, he made mistakes, but he made your case.

We are not here to discuss the case against ADM.

Mr. Whitacre, my name is Ed Herbst

and I am with the FBI's Economic Crimes Unit.

This is Mary Spearing and Don McKay,

from the Department of Justice Fraud Division

and we were wondering if you could tell us

when your criminal conduct at ADM began.

In early 1992. Um...

I was taught how things are done there by Mick Andreas,

who showed me how to use embezzlements

and kickbacks in order to make money tax-free.

My client is voluntarily--

No, I'm-I'm aware that the fraud

that I perpetrated was wrong and I accept responsibility.

How did you receive the money?

By check. They would deposit the check

to my account in Decatur.

They paid kickbacks in checks? Ha.

What company would pay kickbacks in checks?

Well, I don't remember the name of the company.

It was, like--

Agra Consulting and Trading or something like that.

You don't remember the company that paid you checks?

It's hard to remember for me right now.

I have things going on in my life,

in case you haven't been reading papers.

Hey, hey, hey, hey.

We're coming to you guys. We're cooperating here.

We're gonna get the money back.

I think this might help your memory.

Now, where did we get those?

These are ADM documents showing forging of signatures.

[MARK GROANS]

Didn't these people seeThe Firm?

Or read the book? It's all there.

Everything they did to me, they did to Tom Cruise.

I'm not the one they should be mad at.

HERNDON: We can't see you anymore.

And if you call us and start to talk about the case,

we'll have to hang up.

You can talk to us about your feelings,

but that's it.

Mark, please understand.

It's not what we want. We got no choice here.

MARK: You know, the thing of it is,

all of my anger, all of my frustration

stems from my work with you guys.

And all this crap in the paper--

My kids are seeing this.

And it's all just dump on Mark Whitacre.

Remember, Mark, we told you

it would be impossible to predict

what would happen when the case went public.

And you never told us about the $5 million you took.

I don't see what that has to do with the price fixing.

He worked for you for two and a half years.

[SOBBING] He risked his career, his home,

and now you just turn your back on him

and leave us out here. It's...

Yes, Ginger.

SHEPARD: The reason we came here today

is because we're concerned about

your and Mark's well-being.

HERNDON: It's important you tell the people in Washington

everything tomorrow.

One hundred percent.

You would have nothing without him,

and you know it.

He's just being used by the government

and then thrown away because it's a lot easier

to go after Mark Whitacre than anyone named Andreas.

[♪♪♪]

We took the kids one year

to the Renaissance festival in Indiana.

You get to be the white knight.

The kids get to ride a horse and joust against

the forces of darkness with a helmet on.

The white knight always wins.

The forces of darkness fall onto an old mattress.

Someone plays a lute and plays a song

from medieval times. The day we went,

it was maybe 90 degrees, and the heat

and humidity index,

I can't even remember what the radio said.

We were next in line and the mare collapsed,

went down in a heap.

Ginger was eating ye olde drumstick

and she dropped it in the dirt. The kids were crying

and I remember this farmer saying he had a gun

in his truck. Just like that.

From the white knight to a gun in the truck.

They had everyone turn their backs

before they put the animal down,

but even if you couldn't see, you could still hear.

How do you get that back?

How does that get to be fair?

GINGER: Well, he just kept buying things.

We had eight cars.Mm-hm.

Three of them we never even used.

And how else has he changed?

Well, I was always the one with the temper. Ha.

Mm-hm.And Corky was the happy one,

but that's changed too.

There's one in Hong Kong.

MILLER: Mm-hm.

Then there are the accounts in Switzerland and Grand Cayman.

Right, right.

Other things... There's a lawyer in New York

who's got a million dollars of mine.

You told your attorney the truth about these accounts?

No, I don't need to tell--

Mark, you need to tell your attorney about these accounts.

The assets were obtained legally.

I don't-- I don't even know if I can trust him.

Mark, has anyone in your family ever been, uh,

diagnosed with bipolar disorder?

You know, manic depressive?

I have an aunt that they used to say that about.

Yeah?

In terms of my parents, I can't be sure.

My parents died in an automobile accident

when I was 6. Oh.

I was adopted by a wealthy man in Ohio.

He owned amusement parks.Aha.

I caught a big break there, big break.

So my client's here to cooperate fully.

Agent D'Angelo, if you have any questions.

This is your chance to put everything on the table.

This is your chance to redeem yourself,

but if you're not going to be completely honest,

just stop talking now.

I understand that.

I just want to tell you I feel...bad.

I'm so sorry. Um...

Um, the last time we spoke,

I was under a great deal of stress

and I said some things that weren't true.

I want to clear that up.

The first kickback was in 1992.

Mick knew all about it.

He told me there were gonna be opportunities

to take kickbacks on some of the contracts

coming out of Asia and Europe,

that were ADM contracts.

Was there anyone else involved?

So, Mr. Richter,

we have money leaving your account here and here

and here,

and it's going into Whitacre's account,

his wife Ginger's account,

and this is going to Whitacre's parents' account.

Like I said, those are loans.

Uh-huh.

Uh, he had me set up a company, Nordkron Chemie,

and just, like, issue these fake invoices to ADM.

And there was a bank account in Hamburg.

So I would get a check for, like, 200 grand and, uh,

most of it would go back to Mark.

Ahem. Okay, look. Um--

We know you're looking out for your friend Mark,

but your story doesn't seem true.

You're right, it's not true.

All the money went to Mark.

When did it start?

Mark told me about this Nigerian thing

he got in the mail.

You know about these schemes with the Nigerian letters?

The 419 fraud? Yeah. We see it every day.

You get a letter from some official in Nigeria asking

for a few grand to help him move millions.

They promise you a percentage of the money.

Exactly. A percentage.

You ever wonder who was dumb enough

to fall for something like that?

This is really embarrassing.

So how much money would you say you made

from your illegal activities?

Uh...

Seven-point-seven million dollars.

But like I said, Mick knew

all about that, you know?

He-- He endorsed that kind of behavior.

So not 5 but 7.7?

Seven-point-seven.

Jim, we all understand special consideration,

but we've got your guy

and these are cases we know we can convict.

Forty-five counts of-of wire fraud

and money laundering and tax evasion.

So explain to us, where is the wiggle room?

Come on, I'm not stupid. Mark committed a crime.

He stole $9 million.

That's pretty indefensible.

But these guys at ADM,

they stole hundreds of millions of dollars

from innocent people all around the world.

Mark showed you that four white guys in suits

getting together in the middle of the day,

that's not a meeting, it's a crime scene.

And not only did he tell you about it,

he got the evidence to prove it. Ha.

When agents go undercover for the FBI,

they get trained for the stresses

of living a secret life.

We hear this all the time from you guys.

How easy it is for a trained agent to crack.

I mean, here's Mark, a civilian, with no training,

but you guys just shove him in there.

You tell him to go for it

without any training to make sure

he doesn't crack under pressure.

[♪♪♪]

Ah! Baby!

[GRUNTING]

Ginger!

Ginger.

They kidnapped me. They put me in a car. What?

They drove me around for 20 minutes.

They wouldn't let me out.Oh, my gosh.

My leg. Oh, Mark!

Ah, it's all cramped. Ah.

Who did this? Who took you?

It's obvious. Look at my jacket.

These people mean business.Oh, no.

MARK: I was abducted.

I was thrown into the back

of a light-brown Dodge Dynasty by two thugs

and driven around in a 20-minute joyride.

And basically, I was told,

you know, "forget everything that isn't on tape

"and you can forget about bringing it up

in a courtroom or-or for the media."

HOST: Did the men identify themselves?

I think we know who sent them.

Yeah.

And they sawed the locks off the door, like mafia thugs.

Yeah, on each side, so I was-- I was trapped.

NEWSMAN: You were trapped.

You couldn't roll down the window?

MARK: No.

Where was the FBI in all of this?

GINGER [ON TV]: Well, I think-- We think people have to realize

that the FBI did the same thing.

I mean, they locked my husband in an investigation

and they drove our family around for three years.

Three to five years?Yes.

In jail?

But ADM's the bad guys.

Everywhere we go, it's the same story.

It's just dump on Mark Whitacre.

You gotta focus here.

You stole $9 million and then you lied about it.

Maybe in your head you're one of the good guys,

but to them you're a guy who stole a lot of money

and then you lied about it.

Ginger and I have been talking and we'd like to file a lawsuit

against Brian Shepard

and the United States government.

Oh, my God. For what, Mark?

He hit me with a briefcase.

Mark, come on.

And he told me to destroy tapes that didn't help the case.

Why would Brian Shepard do that?

Maybe the question you should be asking yourself

is what is Brian Shepard hiding?

All right. I'm telling you, okay?

Take the plea.

[SCOFFS]

Yeah. Thanks, Jim,

but we're gonna go a different way.

[♪♪♪]

MAN: Evelyn?What?

There's a reporter on the phone from the Washington Post.

Has some questions about Corky.

A reporter?

EVELYN: This is Evelyn Whitacre.

What do you mean, adopted?

Well, as his mother, I can assure you

that my husband and I were not killed in a car accident

and Mark was not adopted by wealthy people.

Mark's been telling people that you and I

were killed in a car accident

and he was adopted by rich people.

What do you make of that?

Hm.

That's kind of weird.

I read this study inTIME magazine

when I was at Cornell, which is an Ivy League school

and there were a lot of people who never believed,

including my mother, that I would make it

into an Ivy League school. Maybe just Ginger,

who I met in marching band in the 8th grade.

And the study said that people had nice,

sympathetic feelings about people who were adopted,

and treated them better.

So I made up this adoption story

and people did treat me better.

And when I got a job, one of my professors

told the people at Ralston Purina

that I was this guy that had accomplished all of this

in spite of being adopted.

So it was really other people who spread the story, not me.

Although I admit it was wrong to start it and everything,

it was other people who kept it going.

Even the people at ADM.

My new lawyer sees that.

Tsk. This all goes back many years,

before most of us were born.

It's bigger than any of us

and it's ongoing.

I know you're skeptical, but I've seen it.

My client, Mark Whitacre, has shown it to me.

Maybe I am just a personal-injury lawyer

from Taylorville, "Nowhere" Illinois,

but I tell you,

I know the identity of the master puppeteer.

The who?The master puppeteer.

And it's not who you're thinking.

Mark has tapes, tapes that the government

doesn't want us to hear.

Tapes that outline the actions of Brian Shepard,

who hit Mark Whitacre with a briefcase

while Mark was cooperating with the government.

My client has a letter from his psychiatrist,

outlining and confirming the cruelty perpetrated on him

by Brian Shepard.

A letter from his psychiatrist

clearly exonerating my client from all wrongdoing.

"It is obvious that the FBI made some grand mistakes

in how they handled and treated you."

There's a phrase of interest--

- "Grand mistakes." - -coming from a doctor.

"When one discusses suicide, this is a red flag.

"When one discusses how they will do it,

"then it is very, very serious. Mark.

"I also feel that the FBI requiring you

"to do unethical conduct

"against ADM was another blunder

"that forced you into a bipolar situation.

"They should have known better

"and noted that a medical problem exists.

"From a medical point of view,

"this is attempted murder that the FBI did to you.

"From a legal view, your lawyer needs to decide what to do

"and what the terminology is.

"I'll support you in whatever you need.

"You and your family have been through too much turmoil

"working with the government.

They should-- They should know better."

That's Dr. Miller.

I read the letter, Mark.

The problem with the letter is...it's a lie.

What are you talking about, Brian?

It's on his letterhead. That's his signature.

What are you talking about?

The area code, Mark.

In the letterhead?

The area code 847?

This letter was written in November, 1995.

That area code didn't exist then.

Okay, but they announced

that the change was coming. I even remember that.

People-- People order their stationery early.

I thought about that.

So I asked the phone company.

This is the press release announcing

the new 847 area code.

It's dated six days after your letter was written.

Miller could not have known about it.

Ron Henkoff fromFortune called Dr. Miller

and Miller confirmed the letter.

If you talk to Henkoff...

Ron Henkoff from Fortunemagazine

verified the letter

with Dr. Miller.

I talked to Dr. Miller, Mark.

You can't-- He--

That's a violation

of my doctor-patient confidentiality.

That's a total violation of my doctor-patient confidentiality.

You can't call Miller.

Doctor-patient confidentiality

doesn't apply to forgeries.

Then why didFortune magazine run the story?

Well, why would Ron Henkoff, for Fortunemagazine

put it in a cover story?

Stop it, Mark.

Henk-- If you talk to Henkoff--

You need to stop doing this to yourself.

Why do you--? Why do you keep lying?

I don't know.

Well, I think maybe I should go back to the hospital.

[♪♪♪]

WOMAN: Case 97-2001,

United States of America v. Mark Whitacre.

Tsk. You have a right to make a statement, if you wish.

Thank you.

Uh, I really appreciate the opportunity

to get up here and say a few words.

Um....

Wow.

What a ride.

Um, been a long five years.

A lot of memories.

I just-- I really want to apologize

to a lot of people in this room

and a lot of people who aren't in this room, um,

for-for my actions.

Uh, I'm on medication now,

so I-- I'm seeing things a lot more clearly.

And I just really want to--

I realize I hurt a lot of people,

and so I want to say:

I'm so, so sorry.

I greatly apologize

and accept responsibility for my actions. That's it.

Thank you.

JUDGE: To observe that Mr. Whitacre is not the usual felon

is a gross understatement.

He's well-educated,

has a loving wife and family,

is well-respected in the community.

It's not inconceivable that, in due course,

he could have been CEO of Archer Daniels Midland.

However, this court...

can find no clear connection between

Mr. Whitacre's bipolar disorder

and the 45 counts of criminal misconduct

he's been charged with,

just garden-variety greed.

It's very difficult to tell when Mr. Whitacre

is telling the truth.

I don't think what happened is fair,

when you look at me compared to Mick and Terry.

I mean, if you go and hold up your local grocery store,

you get, maybe, five years in prison.

Mick and Terry held up every grocery store in the world

and they got three.

So you tell me how it makes sense that I get nine,

and I think that you should consider that, Mr. President,

when reviewing this request for pardon.

Uh, I'd also like to take this opportunity

to apologize on behalf of myself and my wife, Ginger,

to Special Agent Brian Shepard.

He never hit me with a briefcase

or told me to destroy tapes.

The idea to sue him came from someone inside ADM.

Um, I shouldn't have listened.

I don't even remember who it was.

While I was there at ADM, I lived so many lives,

I didn't-- I didn't really know who I was.

And I know today more who I am

and what I really want out of life.

I've completed three postgraduate degrees

while in detention,

a J.D., which is, of course, a law degree.

Uh, another advanced degree

in the psychology of jury selection.

I sleep better here in prison than I have in years.

My wife, Ginger, has forgiven me.

She actually believes that this incident with ADM

brought us closer together in a marriage of over 20 years,

and I hope you'll allow me to leave here

so that I can rejoin that life with my family, my three kids,

two of whom are adopted.

Especially in light of the fact that,

in large part because of my testimony,

the United States government has to date

been able to collect over one billion dollars

in price-fixing fines from big businesses.

So that's it. Thanks.

Good luck with the pardon, Mark.

Thanks, Bob. Thanks for helping me

remember everything. I really appreciate it.

I wish Brian could have come.

Well, he's-- He's still pretty angry.

Yeah. Well, tell him I'm real sorry. Will you do that?

Sure, Mark.

You know, the irony is if I hadn't gone undercover,

I never would have stole the 11 and a half million.

You know, it was my way out.

It was my severance. What else was I gonna do?

I had to write my own severance.

MAN: Work detail.

See you, Bob.

Uh, uh-- Eleven and a half million?

What? I thought it was 9 and a half.

What did I say?

You said 11 and a half.

You do know that the people at ADM

think you were the mole.

That you planted the virus then made it go away.

The 11 and a half is with the interest.

Mark, is it 9 and a half or 11 and a half?

[SIGHS]

I don't know, Bob.

You tell me.

[STEVE TYRELL'S "TRUST ME" PLAYING]

♪ Trust me ♪

♪ There's an art on knowing How to cut the corners ♪

♪ A trick to living Strictly by your wits ♪

[DOOR SHUTS]

♪ And if they call you crazy ♪

♪ They wont label you A crackpot ♪

♪ When the jackpot hits ♪

♪ And you can trust me ♪

♪ There's a light At the end of every tunnel ♪

♪ A Sunday at the end Of every week ♪

♪ And if you play Your cards right ♪

♪ One win is the beginning ♪

♪ Of a winning streak ♪

♪ Well, you may stumble You may fall ♪

♪ Find your back Against the wall ♪

♪ Go over it, around it ♪

♪ Under it and through it ♪

♪ It really doesn't matter As long as you do it ♪

♪ Would I steer you wrong? Trust me ♪

♪ There are times when You're feeling like a loser ♪

♪ There's no future Living in the past ♪

♪ Stick to your intuition ♪

♪ You don't have to leave A trail behind you ♪

♪ Lady Luck knows ♪

♪ Where to find you ♪

♪ I'll give you Your money back ♪

♪ Guaranteed ♪

♪ Trust me ♪

♪ When you're short On dreams and hopes ♪

♪ Feel your life Is on the ropes ♪

♪ You shouldn't let it get you Rattle or upset you ♪

♪ You'll learn the secret lies In just improvising ♪

♪ Trust me ♪

♪ There are times when You're feeling like a loser ♪

♪ There's no future Living in the past ♪

♪ You gotta stick To your intuition ♪

♪ Life can be peaches Cream and honey ♪

♪ Using other people's money I'll give you a lifetime ♪

♪ Guaranteed ♪

♪ Trust me ♪

♪ Would I lie to you? Never ♪

♪ Trust me ♪

♪ Honey, trust me ♪

♪ Trust me ♪

♪ T-R-U-S-T M-E ♪

[♪♪♪]