The Securities and Exchange Commission’s accounting and disclosure fraud suit against Archer-Daniels-Midland’s former CFO is inching along with the fact discovery phase likely to take at least another six months, according to a Thursday court filing.
The progress in the federal case filed in January against Vikram Luthar appears to be entangled in a still-expanding fact-finding phase, according to a status report filed this week signed by attorneys for the SEC and Luthar.
Both sides are proceeding “diligently,” with the SEC already having produced over 307,000 documents in response to Luthar’s initial requests, the filing states, and the agency is continuing to provide additional material in “rolling productions.”
Meanwhile, in other information-gathering actions, the SEC made its first set of requests to Luthar, who in turn has issued subpoenas to four parties not named in the filing, and both parties in the case are planning to issue up to 40 written interrogatories, citing the “complex nature of certain issues” in connection with anticipating the higher volume.
“If the Court deems it necessary, the Parties will request permission to serve additional interrogatories beyond the 25 permitted by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure,” states the filing signed by the SEC’s counsel Timothy J. Stockwell and Junaid A. Zubairi, counsel for Luthar. “The Parties anticipate serving additional requests for production, requests for admission and/or third-party subpoenas.”
Looking ahead, the attorneys said in the filing that they expect to be able to complete fact discovery by March 23, 2027 but will notify the court if the deadline “becomes unrealistic.”
That date extends the case’s timeline by more than a year from when the SEC filed the federal fraud case against Luthar.
The complaint landed on Jan. 27, the same day the SEC announced that the Chicago-based grain trading giant agreed to pay a $40 million civil penalty to settle charges that it inflated its Nutrition business’s performance while touting it “to investors as an important driver of the company’s overall growth.”
Although the SEC announced settled charges against Vince Macciocchi, former president of the Nutrition segment, and Ray Young, a former ADM CFO who preceded Luthar, in connection with the matter, it proceeded to litigate the action against Luthar.
In January Luthar’s attorney told CFO Dive that Luthar was not interested in a settlement with the SEC, which he asserted was unjustly seeking to hold Luthar accountable for long-standing ADM business practices.
Born and raised in India, Luthar left General Motors to become treasurer at ADM in 2004 and rose through finance ranks, holding various positions including becoming CFO of the company’s Nutrition segment in 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Luthar served as ADM’s CFO from early in 2022 through September of 2025 when he resigned after earlier being put on forced administrative leave as the company grappled with the accounting problems and related SEC and Department of Justice investigations.
“He looks forward to establishing in court what has always been true — that he conducted himself with integrity and professionalism during his 20-year career at ADM,” Zubair said.
A spokesperson for the SEC declined to comment on the matter and attorneys for the SEC and Luthar did not respond to requests for comment.
