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Loading... The Informant: A True Story (original 2000; edition 2001)by Kurt Eichenwald
Work InformationThe Informant: A True Story by Kurt Eichenwald (2000)
Crime (24) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I read this book a long time ago but had forgotten about it until I saw it in the news because apparently it's been turned into a movie. This was really well written. The subject doesn't sounds like something that would be exciting to read about but I couldn't put it down. On the down side, it will make you angry since it documents what appears to be a common theme these days with corporate executives i.e. greed, greed and more greed. ( ) It's hard not to hear the Michael Douglas character, Gordon Gecko, in "Wall Street" echoing 'greed is good' when reading this story. Having seen the film I decided to read the book which goes far beyond it in all respects. Mark Whitacre, PhD and head of lysine department at ADM is more like Bernie Madoff than anything else though its not suspected due to his 'good guy' nature. The twists and turns as the story unfolds show just how greedy Fortune 500 companies are and to what end they'll go to manipulate markets and people. But crime does NOT pay and Whitacre learns this well. Highly recommended. Completely insane, and hilariously so. The story's twists are amazing, and with Eichenwald's chronological telling I saw none of it coming. I think the book is probably too long for its subject, but a reader with patience will be pleasantly baffled. > This was a tape that the FBI knew nothing about. This was one of his recordings of his meetings with the agents. He was just like Tom Cruise, taping the agents when they didn’t know. Feeling cocky, Whitacre opened the closet and placed the microcassette on a shelf. He found it amusing that he was using a recording device from the FBI to tape its own agents > Of course, he left his briefcase behind and it continued taping. Under the law, that portion of the tape couldn’t be turned over to prosecutors—no consenting party was present. Easily one of the most technically accurate pictures of the FBI I've ever read. Since the FBI is viewed through the lens of a particularly complex white collar, price fixing case, the agency's political and bureaucratic foibles are imminently apparent - from warring factions of agents and prosecutors to the tedious meanderings of investigative practice. The book also serves as a wonderful behavioral analysis treatise, as the informant of the title engages in a range of unbelievable hi-jinx that stretch the boundaries of believabiity. The author kindly provides actual diagnostic opinions from a professional who treated the informant toward the end of the book - so your questions will be answered, nominally, at least. If you've watched so many films to see an FBI agent as someone who is quick to the draw and racing around the streets chasing serial killers, this book serves as the appropriate antidote - this is the bread and butter of the FBI, complete with all the warts that hamper it. 4 1/2 bones!!!!! no reviews | add a review
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HTML: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 Midlandâ??America's most politically powerful corporationâ??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 boardâ??including the high-profile chairman Dwayne Andreas, F. Ross Johnson, and Brian Mulroneyâ??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 No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)364.16Social sciences Social problems and services; associations Criminology Crimes and Offenses Crimes of propertyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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