COMPANY NEWS; CARGILL TO PAY $24 MILLION TO SETTLE CLASS-ACTION SUIT

Published: March 12, 2004
Cargill said yesterday that it had agreed to settle for $24 million a class-action lawsuit that accused the company of conspiring with two other companies to fix prices of a common food sweetener. The suit, which was filed in 1995 by 18 food manufacturers, accused Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland and A.E. Staley Manufacturing, a unit of Tate & Lyle of Britain, of fixing prices of the sweetener, high fructose corn syrup. Cargill denied the accusations but said the cost of settling was the same as the cost of defending the suit. Archer Daniels declined to comment. An A.E. Staley spokesman said the company would face the plaintiffs in court. ''We obviously continue to deny any allegation of wrongdoing and are contesting the case,'' he said.

THEY ARE CROOKS!

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