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Archer Daniels Midland The Co. (ADM) is back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
In the 1990s, the agricultural giant was involved in a price fixing conspiracy which became the basis of the book—and later the Matt Damon movie—The Informant!. Now the company’s latest controversy centers on the accounting of the company’s nutrition unit.
After an investigation that lasted nearly three years, ADM reached a $40 million civil penalty settlement with the SEC, without admitting or denying wrongdoing, over civil allegations that it misled investors about the performance of the nutrition division, which produces ingredients for human and animal food, the agency said. Office has partnered on Tuesday. Regulators alleged that ADM used improper accounting to make segment earnings look stronger than they actually were, mainly by shifting profits from other divisions through off-market “intersegment” sales and other adjustments.
Former ADM executives Vince Macciocchi, former SVP and president of nutrition, and chief sales and marketing officer; Ray Young, who served as CFO from 2010 to 2022 and then as vice chairman; and Vikram Luthar, CFO from 2022 to 2024, were also charged in connection with accounting and disclosure issues. Macciocchi agreed to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest totaling $404,343 dollars and a $125,000 dollar civil penalty, and Young agreed to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest totaling $575,610 dollars and a $75,000 dollar civil penalty.
But, so does the SEC Office has partnered on Tuesday that Luthar is still facing charges of accounting and disclosure fraud. He was accused of allegedly materially inflating the performance of the nutrition segment that ADM had touted to investors as a key driver of the company’s overall growth. The SEC’s complaint against Luthar alleges that he ordered “adjustments” to nutrition transactions in other ADM business segments when nutrition fell short of its operating profit targets for fiscal years 2021 and 2022.
The adjustments include retroactive rebates and price changes not traditionally available to ADM’s third-party customers that are essentially a partial shift of operating income to Nutrition, with the goal of demonstrating that Nutrition has achieved the 15% to 20% annual growth in operating income that Luthar and other ADM executives had projected to investors, the SEC said.
In response to the SEC filing, Junaid Zubairi of Vedder, which represents Luthar, said in a statement sent to luck that the allegations were “frivolous and the product of a one-sided complaint without substantial exculpatory facts.” Zubairi stated that ADM had hired experienced outside counsel to conduct an internal investigation and, as publicly disclosed by ADM’s March 25, 2025, proxy statement, Luthar was not found to have engaged in improper conduct.
“The SEC unfairly seeks to hold Mr. Luthar accountable for ADM’s longstanding business practices,” Vedder said, adding that the “transactions in question were transparent and were considered, approved, and executed in good faith by the company.” Luthar, who joined ADM in 2004 and became CFO in 2022, has denied the charges and intends to fight the charges in court.
ADM (No. 50 of the Fortune 500) launched an internal investigation, voluntarily reported its findings to the SEC, put in place new internal accounting controls, and amended policies and procedures. In March 2024, ADM corrected some errors from the previous period, and in November 2024, the company refiled its previously issued 2023 Form 10-K and Forms 10-Q for the first and second quarters of 2024, each time to address reporting errors in its historical segment. “ADM is implementing significant changes to its financial leadership team and financial controls,” the company said in a press release on Tuesday. Monish Patolawala has been the EVP and CFO of ADM since August 1, 2024. He previously served as CFO of 3M.
ADM is “pleased to put these matters behind the company,” Juan Luciano, chair of the board, president and CEO, said in a statement. He emphasized that it is strengthening internal controls and financial reporting based on lessons learned, and promised continued transparency, integrity, and focus on maintaining stakeholder trust.
luck HISTORY reported that Luthar was placed on administrative leave in January 2024. In April of that year, the company announced he will resigneffective on Sept. 30, 2024, as the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into ADM’s accounting practices ensued. The DOJ ultimately closed its criminal investigation and did not file charges.
ADM’s nutrition business has long been central to the company’s strategy. In 2014, ADM made its largest acquisition to date of $3 billion buyout purchase of European natural-ingredients maker Wild Flavors, which aims to diversify beyond traditional grain and oilseed trading. But weakening demand and uneven performance have prevented the segment from meeting early expectations — pressures that now sit at the center of the SEC’s case.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
