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The Informant!
''The Informant!'' is a 2009 American biographical black comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh. Written by Scott Z. Burns, the film stars Matt Damon as the titular informant named Mark Whitacre, as well as Scott Bakula, Joel McHale and Melanie Lynskey. It depicts Whitacre's involvement as a whistleblower in the lysine price-fixing conspiracy of the mid-1990s, and his embezzlement of millions of dollars from his employer. The film is based on the 2000 nonfiction book '' The Informant'', by journalist Kurt Eichenwald. Released on September 18, 2009, ''The Informant!'' received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for Matt Damon's performance, although the film's comedic yet ironic tone received mixed reviews. Plot Mark Whitacre, a rising star at the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) office in Decatur, Illinois, during the early 1990s, blows the whistle on the company’s price-fixing tactics at the urging of his wife Ginger. One night in November 1992, Whitacr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh ( ; born January 14, 1963) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. A pioneer of modern Independent film, independent cinema, Soderbergh later drew acclaim for formally inventive films made within the studio system. Soderbergh's directorial breakthrough, the indie drama ''Sex, Lies, and Videotape'' (1989), lifted him into the public spotlight as a notable presence in the film industry. At 26, Soderbergh became the youngest solo director to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and the film garnered worldwide commercial success, as well as Sex, Lies, and Videotape#Accolades, numerous accolades. His next five films, including the critically lauded King of the Hill (1993 film), ''King of the Hill'' (1993), found limited commercial success. He pivoted into more mainstream fare with the crime comedy ''Out of Sight'' (1998), the biopic ''Erin Brockovich (film), Erin Brockovich'' (2000) and the crime drama ''T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon. History Brandon Gray began the site on August 7, 1998, making forecasts of the top-10 highest-grossing films in the United States for the following weekend. To compare his forecasts to the actual results, he started posting the weekend grosses and wrote a regular column with box-office analysis. In 1999, he started to post the Friday daily box-office grosses, sourced from Exhibitor Relations, so that they were publicly available online on Saturdays and posted the Sunday weekend estimates on Sundays. Along with the weekend grosses, he was publishing the daily grosses, release schedules and other charts, such as all-time charts, international box office charts, genre charts, and actor and director charts. The site gradually expanded to include weekend charts goin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, fourth-most populous city in the European Union and the List of cities proper by population density, 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2022. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, culture, Fashion capital, fashion, and gastronomy. Because of its leading role in the French art, arts and Science and technology in France, sciences and its early adoption of extensive street lighting, Paris became known as the City of Light in the 19th century. The City of Paris is the centre of the Île-de-France region, or Paris Region, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 inhabitants in January 2023, or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most populous urban areas in the world. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo and parts of six neighboring Prefectures of Japan, prefectures, is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with 41 million residents . Lying at the head of Tokyo Bay, Tokyo is part of the Kantō region, on the central coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island. It is Japan's economic center and the seat of the Government of Japan, Japanese government and the Emperor of Japan. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government administers Tokyo's central Special wards of Tokyo, 23 special wards, which formerly made up Tokyo City; various commuter towns and suburbs in Western Tokyo, its western area; and two outlying island chains, the Tokyo Islands. Although most of the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Informa
Informa plc is a British publishing, business intelligence, and exhibitions group based in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It has offices in 30 countries and around 12,000 employees. Informa owns numerous brands including Fan Expo, VidCon, Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, CRC Press, Routledge, and Taylor & Francis. History Informa itself was created in 1998 by the merger of IBC Group plc (formerly International Business Communications) and LLP Group plc (publisher of '' Lloyd's List''). Since then Informa has expanded considerably, including a 2003 purchase of '' PJB'' publisher PJB, 2004 merger with the publishing company Taylor & Francis and a 2005 acquisition of IIR Holdings, a human capital development company, for £768 million. In October 2006, the company was approached by Springer Science and Business Media in a takeover bid, but in early November the Informa board rejecte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lysine
Lysine (symbol Lys or K) is an α-amino acid that is a precursor to many proteins. Lysine contains an α-amino group (which is in the protonated form when the lysine is dissolved in water at physiological pH), an α-carboxylic acid group (which is in the deprotonated form when the lysine is dissolved in water at physiological pH), and a side chain (which is partially protonated when the lysine is dissolved in water at physiological pH), and so it is classified as a basic, charged (in water at physiological pH), aliphatic amino acid. It is encoded by the codons AAA and AAG. Like almost all other amino acids, the α-carbon is chiral and lysine may refer to either enantiomer or a racemic mixture of both. For the purpose of this article, lysine will refer to the biologically active enantiomer L-lysine, where the α-carbon is in the ''S'' configuration. The human body cannot synthesize lysine. It is essential in humans and must therefore be obtained from the diet. In orga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herald & Review
The ''Herald & Review'' is a daily newspaper based in Decatur, Illinois. It is owned by Lee Enterprises. The Herald & Review was named one of Editor & Publisher's "10 Newspapers That Do It Right" in 2019 for its use of government documents and public records to create substantive journalism. In 2018, the Herald & Review was recognized by Editor & Publisher for digital growth and other initiatives. It also received top honors in the investigative reporting and public service categories in the Illinois Associated Press Media Editors 2017 newspaper contest. The Herald & Review in August 2017 was one of 10 newsrooms chosen from across the country to receive a grant for watchdog training through Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening investigative journalism. The Herald & Review also founded the Herald & Review 100, an auto race held annually at Macon Speedway, in Macon, Illinois. History The Rev. Alfred F. Wuensch founded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decatur, Illinois
Decatur ( ) is the largest city in Macon County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 70,522. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 17th-most populous city in Illinois and the sixth-most populous outside the Chicago metropolitan area. Decatur has an economy based on industrial and agricultural commodity processing and production. The city is home to Millikin University and Richland Community College. History 19th century The city is named after War of 1812 naval hero Stephen Decatur. The Potawatomi Trail of Death passed through the city in 1838. Post No. 1 of the Grand Army of the Republic was founded by Civil War veterans in Decatur on April 6, 1866. Decatur was the first home in Illinois of Abraham Lincoln, who settled just west of Decatur with his family in 1830. At the age of 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archer Daniels Midland
The Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, commonly known as ADM, is an American multinational food processing and commodities trading corporation founded in 1902 and headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. The company operates more than 270 plants and 420 crop procurement facilities worldwide, where cereal grains and oilseeds are processed into products used in food, beverage, nutraceutical, Industry (economics), industrial, and animal Fodder, feed markets worldwide. ADM ranked No. 35 in the 2023 Fortune 500, ''Fortune'' 500 list of the largest United States corporations. The company also provides agriculture, agricultural storage and transportation services. The American River Transportation Company along with ADM Trucking, Inc., are subsidiaries of ADM. ADM has been the subject of significant media attention and infamy over the years with its various scandals, one inspiring a novel and subsequent film ''The Informant!.'' History Early history In 1902, John W. Daniels s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nonfiction
Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to present topics objectively based on historical, scientific, and empirical information. However, some non-fiction ranges into more subjective territory, including sincerely held opinions on real-world topics. Often referring specifically to prose writing, non-fiction is one of the two fundamental approaches to story and storytelling, in contrast to narrative fiction, which is largely populated by imaginary characters and events. Non-fiction writers can show the reasons and consequences of events, they can compare, contrast, classify, categorise and summarise information, put the facts in a logical or chronological order, infer and reach conclusions about facts, etc. They can use graphic, structural and printed appearance features such as pictures, graphs or char ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lysine Price-fixing Conspiracy
The lysine price-fixing conspiracy was an organized effort during the mid-1990s to raise the price of the animal feed additive lysine. It involved five companies that had commercialized high-tech fermentation technologies, including Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Ajinomoto, Kyowa Hakko Kogyo, Sewon America Inc. and Cheil Jedang Ltd. A criminal investigation resulted in fines and three-year prison sentences for three executives of ADM who colluded with the other companies to fix prices. The other four companies settled with the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division in September through December 1996. Each firm and four executives from the Asian firms pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain to aid in further investigation against ADM. The cartel had been able to raise lysine prices 70% within their first nine months of cooperation. The investigation yielded $105 million in criminal fines, a record antitrust penalty at the time, including a $70 million fine agai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whistle Blower
Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or fraudulent. Whistleblowers can use a variety of internal or external channels to communicate information or allegations. Over 83% of whistleblowers report internally to a supervisor, human resources, compliance, or a neutral third party within the company, hoping that the company will address and correct the issues. A whistleblower can also bring allegations to light by communicating with external entities, such as the media, government, or law enforcement. Some countries legislate as to what constitutes a protected disclosure, and the permissible methods of presenting a disclosure. Whistleblowing can occur in the private sector or the public sector. Whistleblowers often face retaliation for their disclosure, including termination of emp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
