LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) asked a federal court to keep an expert witness from testifying in an ongoing ethanol markets class-action lawsuit against the company.

The motion was filed this month in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois.

In December 2024, ADM and plaintiff AOT Holding AG debated whether AOT's witness Shaun Ledgerwood should be allowed to present his findings using a so-called regression analysis model he created on behalf of AOT Holding and Maize Capital Group LLC, a second plaintiff in a related case.

That model, AOT alleges, shows ADM manipulated the ethanol market at the Argo terminal in Illinois.

The motion filed by ADM asks to exclude the "entirety of Shaun Ledgerwood's testimony and opinions" and to hold oral argument on the issue.

"ADM continues to believe that oral argument on this motion is important so that ADM may explain in more detail why Ledgerwood's opinion should be excluded and can respond to any questions the court may have about the unreliability of Ledgerwood's methodology and testimony," ADM said in the motion.

Following a hearing on Dec. 6, 2024, the court entered an order setting a briefing schedule for ADM's motion to exclude Ledgerwood's testimony.

Attorneys for AOT disclosed a supplemental document from Ledgerwood on Jan. 28, 2025, that includes additional information from Ledgerwood.

ADM argued the updated information should be stricken from the record as an "improper supplement" to an expert opinion.

According to the court, the updated information includes new calculations as to how AOT alleges ADM's actions affected the market.

Ledgerwood is a former economist at the Office of Enforcement of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Court-appointed expert Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, the university distinguished professor of economics at Michigan State University, reportedly concluded AOT did not suffer economic damage from ADM's alleged actions.

Wooldridge has been involved in critiquing Ledgerwood's conclusions as part of vetting him as a witness.

The model Ledgerwood developed, according to court documents, includes:

-- futures price of corn

-- wages paid to manufacturing workers

-- electricity and natural gas prices

-- prices of byproducts of ethanol production

-- railroad transportation costs

-- storms or other severe weather in Illinois

-- gasoline price in New York Harbor

-- price of renewable identification numbers, or RINs

-- amount of ethanol and gasoline stocks in the U.S.

-- U.S. imports and exports of ethanol and the Chinese tariffs placed on them

ADM has argued Ledgerwood and his report are not admissible because the model almost always finds ethanol-price suppression on ADM's part, and that he used the wrong model and data for pricing, among other issues.

AOT and other companies have alleged that ADM manipulated ethanol prices, violating the Commodity Exchange Act.

Specifically, AOT has alleged ADM suppressed the daily benchmark price of ethanol to benefit its short positions. AOT has alleged ADM's actions benefited the company by increasing the value of ADM's "short" or "hedged" ethanol positions.

AOT filed a class-action lawsuit in May 2020, alleging ADM manipulated the daily ethanol market at the Argo terminal by flooding the fuel terminal with lower-priced ethanol starting in November 2017 through March 2019. The specific trading in question occurred during the 30-minute "market-on-close," or MOC, window.

Read more on DTN:

"Expert Witness Who Alleges ADM Manipulated Ethanol Market Sees Credibility Examined in Court," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

Follow him on social media platform X @DTNeeley

(c) Copyright 2025 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.