Publications: Notes at the Margin

The Accidental Informant: Serious Consequences for the Oil Industry

 

In the 2009 film The Informant, Matt Damon starred as Mark Whitacre, a former Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) employee who disclosed the existence of cartel price fixing for the agricultural product lysine. ADM and lysine producers ultimately paid fines of over $100 million for their actions.[i] At the time, Damon was a young man who fit the description of Whitacre.

 

One wonders if an older Damon will play the role of Scott Sheffield, the former Pioneer Natural Resources chairman, in a 2025 movie called The Accidental Informant. The film would depict a senior oil industry executive working assiduously through text messages and emails to prevent excessive crude oil volumes from reaching the market and collapsing prices.


[i] John Greenwald, Sally B. Donnelly, and William A. McWhirter, “The Fix Was In At ADM,” Time, October 28, 1996 [https://tinyurl.com/283kn5xp].

 

 

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