More than 30 years after fraud at Archer Daniels Midland inspired a Matt Damon film, the company was hit with a $40M fine in a price-fixing probe

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) is back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. 

In the 1990s, the agricultural giant was implicated in a price-fixing conspiracy that became the basis for the book—and later Matt Damon movie—The Informant!. Now the company’s latest controversy centers around accounting in the company’s nutrition unit.

After an investigation lasting almost three years, ADM has 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 segment, which produces ingredients for both human and animal food, the agency announced on Tuesday. Regulators alleged ADM used improper accounting to make the segment’s profits look stronger than they really were, primarily by shifting profits from other divisions through non‑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 until 2022 and la...