Archer Daniels Midland Co. has settled a lawsuit in which the company was being sued in connection with a grain dealer convicted of defrauding Missouri grain growers.
The case was filed in 2011 and involved $27.4 million stolen from growers by Cathy Gieseker. Gieseker, who is serving a nine-year prison sentence, failed to pay for the corn and soybeans delivered by the growers and then sold, mostly to ADM.
Subsequent criminal investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and other agencies found no evidence of wrongdoing by ADM. Still, the litigants filed a civil lawsuit, alleging ADM was complicit in the crime perpetrated by Gieseker.
