The Informant

A True Story

By: Kurt Eichenwald

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

From an award-winning New York Times investigative reporter comes a gripping account of one of the most captivating and bizarre tales in the history of the FBI and corporate America.

It was one of the FBI's biggest secrets: Mark Whitacre, a senior executive at Archer Daniels Midland--America's most politically powerful corporation--became a confidential government witness. Putting his career and family at risk, Whitacre, along with a small team of agents, tapped into secrets at ADM that led the FBI to discover the company's scheme to steal millions of dollars from its own customers.

But as the FBI and federal prosecutors closed in on ADM, they suddenly found that everything was not all that it appeared. While Whitacre was cooperating with the Feds and playing the role of loyal company man, he also had his own agenda. Whitacre became sucked into his own world of James Bond antics, imperiling the criminal case and creating a web of deceit that left the FBI and prosecutors uncertain where the lies stopped and the truth began.

Meticulously researched and richly told, The Informant re-creates the drama of the story, beginning with the secret recordings, stakeouts, and interviews with suspects and witnesses to the power struggles within ADM and its board--including the high-profile chairman Dwayne Andreas, F. Ross Johnson, and Brian Mulroney--to the big-gun Washington lawyers hired by ADM, and on up through the ranks of the Justice Department to FBI Director Louis Freeh and Attorney General Janet Reno.

A page-turning real-life thriller that features deadpan FBI agents, crooked executives, idealistic lawyers, and shady witnesses with an addiction to intrigue, The Informant tells an important and compelling story of power and betrayal in America

Critic reviews

"The Informant is epic in scope, a tale of human foibles--of greed, deceit, and arrogance--and also of the search for truth. Eichenwald has told it masterfully, with the narrative drive of a novel. I guarantee it'll keep you reading late into the night."
-- Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action

"The Informant is superb reporting in the service of a great story, one with the drama and suspense of a Le Carré novel. Set squarely in the American heartland, delving into the inner sanctum of a global corporation, it explores the shifting boundaries of truth and deception, loyalty and betrayal. It is a remarkable achievement."
-- James B. Stewart, Den of Thieves and Blind Eye

"The twists and turns of this nonfiction work leave many thrillers in the dust. Eichenwald's spare prose and journalistic eye for detail make the pages fly."
-- David Baldacci, Absolute Power and Saving Faith

"I would say The Informant reads like Grisham, only nobody ever could have invented these characters. A tale this riveting and this strange could only have been built from truth."
-- Sherry Sontag, coauthor, Blind Man's Bluff

The best white-collar true crime book I've read

Kurt Eichenwald is an excellent writer and this is his best book. It is suspenseful and very human, showing the personalities and emotions of those involved. The facts are compelling, making this as much of a page-turner as the best works of fiction.

Unbelievable twists and turns. Hard to believe it’s non fiction.

A very interesting story and deep dive into mind of the person that was hero, villain, witness, defendant, loyal friend and enemy. Fair warning, it is a long listen with a lot of detail.

Your time will be well spent listening to this book!

An unbelievable story well told! Your mind will reel as this story unfolds. Arthur Morey brings this story to life in the most riveting manner.

Page-turning investigative journalism

Almost as good as his Enron book, Eichenwald is a master at exposing corporate culture and corruption. His books are long and detailed, but fly by like suspense novels. It is reassuring to find this kind of integrity and intelligence taking on the corporate giants in America.

If industrial espionage is your thing, grab this

This is one of the very few books I have ever been unable to finish. I tried! Oh, I did truly try! It was somewhat like trying to eat a very large piece of cardboard, though. I have never eaten cardboard, either a large or a small piece, but I now feel that the equivalence is valid.
This is a long, long series of "John said," and then, " George replied," and many scenes are in offices or hotel rooms, hotels chosen apparently because there is a stronger likelihood of no listening devices, since they are assigned at random by the hotel management.
I do understand the importance of this story and the implications for that importance, but try as I did, I just could not overcome the somnolence factor. This is a great listen to put a person to sleep. There is no excitement, no zip, and the narrator's voice is very soothing.
The four star rating is given because of the significance of the events, not because of the dynamism of the presentation.