U.S. Attorney Joshua Hochberg Unfit For Office

U.S. Attorney Hochberg has been chief of the Fraud Section of the DOJ’s Criminal Division since 1998. From 1995 to 1998 Hochberg served as deputy chief for litigation in the Public Integrity Section (PIS). Presently he also serves as acting U.S. Attorney for the southern district of Texas.

On June 27, 1995 the FBI raided the headquarters of Archer Daniels Midland Company in Decatur, Illinois. For more than two years prior to the raid ADM executive Mark Whitacre worked with the FBI to audio and video tape ADM officials and executives of other companies rigging prices in the lysine and citric acid markets. At the time Howard Buffett was an ADM board member as well as an assistant to ADM chairman Dwayne Andreas. In early July of 1995, Buffett resigned from the board and the company, claiming he was upset with the conduct of ADM officials regarding the investigation. FBI-302 reports of FBI agent interviews with Buffett relate that ADM was involved in obstruction of justice. Buffett told agents that Dwayne Andreas’ secretary Claudia Madding and another employee took boxes of documents out of Dwayne’s office. Later, Buffett learned that Martin Andreas, a senior corporate executive and board member, had organized five employees to remove documents from other offices. All this material was sent to ADM”s co-generation plant for destruction.

In 1996 complaints were sent to Hochberg about troubling aspects of the fraud investigation; principally that the investigation was centering on the whistle blower Whitacre and not on other crimes that were recorded by the FBI tapes through Whitacre. Hochberg refused to cooperate or respond to any of the complaints.

On October 15, 1996 ADM entered into a plea agreement with the government. It was a sweet deal for ADM. The company pleaded guilty to price fixing in two products--lysine and citric acid-- and paid a $100 million fine. The presiding federal judge, Ruben Castillo, accepted the plea, which was a downward departure from Department of Justice guidelines. It was later learned that ADM was permitted to keep its government business as part of the plea agreement. This part of the deal, however, was not specified in the written plea agreement. When this information became public, Judge Castillo asked to be shown the evidence. When given the evidence, which included an audio tape of an Undersecretary of Agriculture verifying ADM’s role in the plea, Judge Castillo refused to give dissenters a chance to appear before him.

As co-founder of the ADM Shareholders Watch Committee I became both a problem for ADM and the government, because our group was constantly bringing evidence forward that a cover up by ADM’s lawyers Williams & Connolly and the Justice Department had defrauded the American people of justice. After the whistle blower Mark Whitacre was sentenced on March 4, 1998 to nine years in prison, Williams & Connolly turned their attention to me and filed papers in Federal Court in Jacksonville, Florida, alleging that $2.5 million of the $9.5 million Whitacre received from ADM was missing. They accused me of possessing it, and they wanted to examine my bank records. At the sentencing of Whitacre, Kurt Eichenwald of the New York Times asked the prosecutor Donald MacKay if all the money Whitacre had received was accounted for. MacKay answered that it had. Eichenwald later denied he had asked the question, but it was verified by three other reporters present that Eichenwald had asked about the money. MacKay also told John Stebbins of Bloomberg News that the Justice Department had no evidence that I had received any illegal funds. Later James J. Nixon, another prosecutor from the fraud division, wrote a letter to my attorney dated April 17, 1998 stating, “That the government cannot confirm whether or not Mr. Hoech received any fraudulent proceeds.” In 1999 and 2000 I tried constantly to contact people from the criminal fraud division. All said that I must speak with Hochberg, as he is in charge. I tried numerous times. He refused to answer my telephone calls or letters. On January 31, 2000 I wrote Attorney General Janet Reno asking her for help in clearing my name; I asked her to contact Hochberg. I heard nothing until March 20, 2000, when FBI special agent Edward S. Knapp, Jr. visited me to see if I was a threat to Hochberg and others. I explained to him what had taken place with ADM, its lawyers and the Justice Department, and I explained our role as shareholders activists. He seemed embarrassed to have bothered us and suggested we go after them. I wrote Hochberg on March 21, 2000, noting “If I put myself in your position knowing what we both know, I would also feel threatened when the cover up and conspiracy by the Justice Department, ADM and Williams & Connolly is going to be exposed. Like you in your position, I would have probably called the FBI and asked them to visit me, hoping it would intimidate us. I have found those who try to intimidate others are usually easily intimidated themselves. You might want to see a mental health professional and have yourself checked out.” I also noted that it seems strange that he had time to call the FBI but not time to call my attorney and clear my name.

It is my firm belief that Hochberg was involved in the cover up at ADM: he refused to look at evidence that proved ADM was sending money abroad to people other than Whitacre; he used his position to try and intimidate an ADM shareholder. Hochberg should recuse himself from the Enron and Andersen cases. He should also be prosecuted for obstruction of justice in the ADM case for working with ADM’s lawyers to contain all the crimes at ADM and send the whistle blower to prison for nine years. Andersen and Enron’s attorneys should ask for a senate hearing concerning the conduct of Hochberg in the ADM case and also in the Andersen and Enron cases. The big question yet unanswered by DOJ, is who appointed Hochberg as acting U.S. Attorney for the southern district of Texas? The next question should be why.

Hoech is president of Global Consultants, Inc. and was an industry consultant in agribusiness during the late 80’s and 90’s. He resides in Hallandale, Florida with his wife and business partner, Carol, who co-founded the ADM Shareholders Watch Committee. Globalfl1@peoplepc.com..

HOCHBERG Should Recuse Himself from the ENRON & ANDERSEN Cases. (His ADM case involvement was pivotal in the cover up)

Whoa ! This should have been page one news, and the subject of earnest talk shows. Guess nobody wanted a visit from Reno's Raiders !!!

Something seems very strange here. Hoech descibes himself as a "shareholder activist" . He doesn't like a settlement that costs ADM $100 million, because he doesn't think it is enough.

It sounds as though he wants ADM destroyed for some other reason, which he doesn't talk about. I'd like to hear the other side of the story before I draw any conclusions about this. It is possible that Hoech is a leftist operative. We are only hearing his voice and his accusations here.

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