More than 30 years after fraud at Archer Daniels Midland inspired a Matt Damon film, the company was hit with a $40M fine in a price-fixing probe

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) is back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. 

In the 1990s, the agricultural giant was implicated in a price-fixing conspiracy that became the basis for the book—and later Matt Damon movie—The Informant!. Now the company’s latest controversy centers around accounting in the company’s nutrition unit.

After an investigation lasting almost three years, ADM has reached a $40 million civil penalty settlement with the SEC, without admitting or denying wrongdoing...