ADM to pay $40 million in U.S. SEC settlement, avoids criminal charges

Washington | Reuters — Grain trader Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) has agreed to pay a $40 million (C$54.2 million) civil penalty to settle charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it inflated the performance of a key business segment, the regulator said on Tuesday.

ADM reached the settlement without admitting or denying any wrongdoing, and said the Justice Department, which had been conducting its own probe, has closed its investigation without bringing criminal charges.

The agreement draws a line under a years-long scandal that forced the company, one of the world’s largest agricultural traders and processors, to twice revise its financial reports, and sparked heavy share losses and shareholder lawsuits.

WHY IT MATTERS: ADM is one of the world’s largest agricultural traders and processors.

The SEC on Tuesday separately sued ADM’s former Chief Financial Officer Vikram Luthar for his role in the allegedly fraudulent adjustments and filed settled charges against two other top executives.

The SEC settlement includes charges brought against former Nutrition business unit President Vince Macciocchi and Ray Young, who was ADM’s CFO until 2022. Macciocchi has agreed to pay more than $529,000 in fines and other fees, while Young will pay more than $650,000.

The SEC complaint against Luthar, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, accuses him of breaking federal securities laws by helping ADM mislead investors and by failing to properly report and account for the company’s activities.

Regulators allege he played a role in fraudulent conduct, helped ADM violate rules and benefitted from the fraud. The SEC is seeking to bar Luthar from serving as an officer or director of a public company, and force him to pay a penalty and other fees.

Luthar’s attorney Junaid Zubairi called the allegations “meritless” and said ADM’s own investigation found that Luthar had not acted improperly.

A lawyer for ADM declined to comment further. A lawyer for Macciocchi also declined to comment and a lawyer for Young did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the closing of the criminal case.

In a statement on the company’s website, CEO Juan Luciano said the company is pleased to put the matter behind them and has taken “extensive actions” to enhance internal controls.

ADM shares were near unchanged in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

Probe centred on nutrition unit

Federal prosecutors opened a probe in early 2024 into accounting issues at ADM tied to the performance of its highly touted “Nutrition” unit, Reuters previously reported. The government investigations as well as an internal inquiry led to the exit of Luthar.

The ADM investigation involved internal company transactions that inaccurately reported financial results for the “Nutrition” unit, which was launched in 2018 to accelerate development of high-value specialty ingredients for the food, beverage and animal feed industries.

ADM cut a combined $228 million from Nutrition’s operating profit between 2018 and 2023 as a result of the revisions, company filings show.

News of the accounting irregularities broke in early 2024, sending ADM shares plummeting and heaping pressure on top executives, including Luciano, as top executive compensation had been tied to growth in the Nutrition unit.

The investigation into “intersegment” transactions between the company’s business segments focused on whether ADM deliberately boosted Nutrition’s performance by providing it with below-cost goods from other company units.

The SEC considered ADM’s cooperation in accepting the settlement offer, the regulator said in a statement.

Specifically, the company conducted an internal investigation, voluntarily reported its findings to agency staff, and provided the staff with additional analyses from an outside accounting expert.

ADM’s remedial measures included implementing new internal accounting controls around intersegment transactions, amending its policies and procedures, and testing the effectiveness of its new controls, among other things, the SEC said.

— Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Jasper Ward in Washington and P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago