Agribusiness Archer Daniels Midland has settled a lawsuit over claims the company was behind a now-imprisoned grain broker's scheme that gouged millions from dozens of Missouri farmers.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Thursday's confidential settlement ended a civil trial in St. Louis. Terms weren't disclosed, and ADM says in a statement it admits no wrongdoing.
Cathy Gieseker was sentenced in 2010 to nine years in federal prison for what prosecutors called a Ponzi scheme involving 179 farmers bilked of more than $27 million.
She claimed to have a deal with ADM that let her broker corn and soybean crops for premium prices and pay the farmers a higher yield later.
The lawsuit involving roughly 160 plaintiffs claimed ADM management knew about and instructed Gieseker's scheme.
