# ADM Ponzi Scheme Trial



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Missouri......from AgWeb.

Regards, Mike

http://www.agweb.com/article/adm-accused-in-trial-of-directing-grain-sales-ponzi-scheme-blmg/


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Nothing about ADM would surprise me. I did business with ADM Commodities in Chicago in the late 90's. Always felt they were shucking and jiving me, trying to skin the little guy. Didn't trust the people I was dealing with. Ended up dropping them as a direct customer.

Ralph


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

WHAAAT?? A Big multinational corporation agribiz screwing over farmers??

I'm SHOCKED, I tell you... SHOCKED!!! It cannot be true!









Okay that's DRIPPING with sarcasm in case anybody cannot tell...

I don't trust ANY of these big agribiz mulitinational corporations any further than I can throw them-- they're only in it for the money, and they plan to make a boatload of it by hook or by crook, and they're determined they'll always come out on top on way or the other, and screw the little guy.

Later! OL J R


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

luke strawwalker said:


> WHAAAT?? A Big multinational corporation agribiz screwing over farmers??
> 
> I'm SHOCKED, I tell you... SHOCKED!!! It cannot be true!
> 
> ...


90% of the businesses in this country are "only in it for the money".

Regards, Mike


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## aawhite (Jan 16, 2012)

I have a hard time feeling a lot of sympathy for the guys who sold to a 3rd party broker. I worked for Cargill for several years a a grain merchant and worked with a lot of 3rd party brokers, usually referred to as scalpers. Some of them were first rate operators, some were not.

Legitimate brokers usually hedge the grain they are buying from farmers, or have to arrive contracts. Sounds like she was flat speculating on price moves.

Based on the article, I wonder why these farmers didn't question that a broker with no elevator space could offer prices higher than the terminal she was selling to. I think dollar signs got in the way of common sense from both sides.

Hard to see how ADM is liable for a 3rd party contract they aren't a part of. I knew trucking firms that basically did what she did, but used backhauls to make their margin, and did it successfully for years, with everyone coming out ahead. This gal just didn't know what she was doing. Not ADM's fault.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Vol said:


> 90% of the businesses in this country are "only in it for the money".
> 
> Regards, Mike


That goes with the demise of small businesses and the rise of the Harvard MBA (probably second worst thing that ever happened in this country).

Ralph


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

Vol said:


> 90% of the businesses in this country are "only in it for the money".
> 
> Regards, Mike


I agree. But, like many the hay business...most businesses have had enough practice at their trade and don't need to lose money on something. So, the only in it for the money is correct. Also, like the hay business, there and good and bad operators in all aspects of making money.

Some people tend to think that capitolism (in it for the money) is a bad thing...it ain't bad, it is just better with a dose of scruples.

73, Mark


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Vol said:


> 90% of the businesses in this country are "only in it for the money".
> 
> Regards, Mike


Yes, I suppose I should have put it another way...

I've known guys that would slit their own mother's throat to rent another 100 acres... NOTHING is off the table... usually guys like that have a VERY low reputation, despite how "successful" they may be at making money.

I've also known guys who are ethical and "do the right thing" even if it means they don't always end up with what they want. They have a much better reputation even though some snide moneygrubbers from the first group will thumb their noses at them...

So which would you rather do business with??

Later! OL J R


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

luke strawwalker said:


> Yes, I suppose I should have put it another way...
> 
> I've known guys that would slit their own mother's throat to rent another 100 acres... NOTHING is off the table... usually guys like that have a VERY low reputation, despite how "successful" they may be at making money.
> 
> ...


Luke,

IMHO, there are 'bad apples' in every line of business, it is just when are they going to stick there head out. Seems the 'bad apples', moral compass, doesn't work (or if they have one, it is broken). To Mark's point, if a business (hay, farming or any other type), profit is not a bad word, but a requirement. Without a profit, how long could anyone stay in business? BUT, there is a difference between a reasonable profit and gouging / fleecing your customers.

Larry

Larry


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

r82230 said:


> Luke,
> 
> IMHO, there are 'bad apples' in every line of business, it is just when are they going to stick there head out. Seems the 'bad apples', moral compass, doesn't work (or if they have one, it is broken). To Mark's point, if a business (hay, farming or any other type), profit is not a bad word, but a requirement. Without a profit, how long could anyone stay in business? BUT, there is a difference between a reasonable profit and gouging / fleecing your customers.
> 
> ...


I agree... didn't mean to imply that profit was a dirty word... EXCESS PROFITS, on the other hand... but of course that's open to interpretation as well I guess and is a relative term. One man's excess is another man's "just right".

I think business ethics by and large in this country are largely gone nowdays. Seems it's all about the bottom line and the next quarterly report, and damn everything else.

Like I said, I know a guy, in fact went to church with him, and his reputation in the community was lower than alligator pee... As one of his neighbors said to me one time, "that guy would sell his own mother for another hundred acres!". He had even tried to rent that guy's family farm out from under him!

I generally have a low opinion of humanity anyway, and with good reason-- a lifetime of experience has taught me one thing... MOST PEOPLE SUCK!! I generally don't trust anybody further than I can throw them. Been burned too many times. I'll usually stick my neck out for a guy ONCE, if he screws me, that's it-- he can crawl over broken glass before I'd help him again and I generally wouldn't pee on him if he was on fire. But I WILL give a guy the benefit of the doubt ONCE to let them prove what they are. Usually my opinion of the human race is spot on, but every so often I'm pleasantly surprised...

There was some Muslim who moved out here from who knows where and he sent his boy over when I was baling the neighbors place to get me to come bale his. At first I was like "good another custom job" and the neighbor told me, "Well, I don't want to tell you your business, but he's come over here and hired the last three guys that I had baling my place, and then stiffed them (he had put up a locked storm fence around his place so if he don't want you in, you don't get in!) They baled for him and then he refused to pay them and that was that. Then they got mad at me and wouldn't bale for me either, which is why I hired you to bale for me... you do what you want, but be careful and don't say I didn't warn you!" Well, the only thing worse than NO deal is a BAD deal. Kid came back and gave me the high pressure treatment, wanting to know when I'd come bale for him, and I begged off... he wouldn't take no for an answer, which is the surest way to get me to tell you where you can head in... Basically I told them to piss up a rope. The guy eventually shafted SO many people that NOBODY would work for them or do business with them AT ALL, and they finally sold out and left. Good riddance. Typical stinking rotten Muslim trash... I've seen it and heard it before from other people's experience with them and how they do business...

Anyway, it's a mess and I hope they sort it out for these farmers and they get their money back, or at least part of it. I still don't and won't trust any of these big stinking multinational agribiz's any farther than I can throw them. Anybody that thinks they're looking out for the farmer's interests has got to be crazy...

Later! OL J R


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