ADM property sale to Perdue called into question Former Ag Secretary Sonny Perdues finances and ethics are under scrutiny following an investigation by the Washington Post. The Post says it was prompted by the government watchdog Accountable.US to look into a South Carolina real estate deal in 2017 where Perdues company AGrowStar bought a small grain plant from Archer Daniels Midland for $250,000 that February. ADM previously paid more than $5.5 million for the same property six years earlier which included an 11-million-bushel soybean processing plant, three million bushels of grain storage capacity, and a rail terminal.