[...]

"The proposed settlement, subject to approval by a federal judge in Peoria, Ill., is the largest legal bill yet by the Decatur, Ill., grain-processing giant in connection with its price-fixing scandal of the mid-1990s.

[...]

"When news broke in 1995 of a raid on ADM headquarters by antitrust investigators, civil attorneys raced to file this lawsuit on speculation that something would turn up on high-fructose corn syrup. Indeed, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had managed to secretly record ADM executives at meetings with executives of rival makers of lysine, a livestock feed additive and much smaller product category.

"The Justice Department wrung a $100 million fine and confession from ADM in 1997 about lysine and citric acid, and sent three ADM executives to prison, but the government dropped its investigation of corn sweetener.