Five indicted in cattle fraud case
On Feb. 11, five individuals were federally indicted for their alleged ties to a nationwide fraud scheme involving cattle purchase contracts carried out through Texas-based company Agridime LLC.
According to information shared by the Northern District of Texas’ U.S. District Attorney’s Office in a Feb. 12 press release, the alleged scheme amounted to $220 million and was conducted by Jed Wood of Fort Worth, Texas; Royana Thomas of Arlington, Texas; Taylor Bang of Kildeer, N.D.; Joshua Link of Strafford, Mo. and Tia Link of Smithton, Mo.
Case background
Agridime LLC was started in 2017 as an online beef and cattle marketing company. The company promised to help their investors “make money raising cattle without having to do all the work,” as noted in a Feb. 18 Cowboy State Daily article by Kate Meadows.
Meadows writes Agridime sold cattle contracts to partners for roughly $2,000 a head, promising to raise and care for the animals through processing and then return a portion of profit from beef sales to the original investor.
The company also promised annual rates of return between at least 15 and 20 percent, according to the article.
The indictment alleges fraudulent operations began in January 2021 and accuses the five individuals of using funds from new contracts to pay off earlier investors rather than investing the money in feed and care for contracted cattle.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation into Agridime and obtained an emergency asset freeze against the company in December 2023.
The SEC complaint claims the defendants did not purchase enough cattle to fulfill Agridime’s contracts but rather diverted tens of millions of dollars in investor funds to pay off prior investors in a Ponzi scheme format.
The case has continued to progress, resulting in the recent indictment whichclaims the extent of the alleged fraud is believed to amount to roughly $220 million.
“The indictment alleges, from January 2021 through December 2023, the five defendants acting through Agridime perpetrated a fraud scheme in which they falsely represented to individual cattle purchasers, cattle ranchers and feedlots that Agridime would use their funds to purchase specific individual cattle for each victim, raise the cattle and eventually sell the meat from the same specific individual cattle for a profit,” states the press release announcing the indictment.
“In reality, the defendants did not use victim funds as promised and instead used newer cattle purchaser funds to pay Agridime operating expenses, funds owed to earlier cattle purchasers and personal expenses and purchase real property,” the release continues.
Nationwide impact
The Agridime LLC scam is believed to have impacted producers and customers in at least 14 states nationwide.
“Thousands of unwitting investors, ranchers and others in the cattle industry nationwide were drawn in and victimized by the defendants’ multi-million dollar scheme alleged in this indictment,” says U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould in the corresponding press release.
“My office, in concert with our law enforcement partners, will hold these defendants accountable and pursue justice on behalf of the victims,” Raybould concludes.
Indictment details
Details of the indictment were made public in the aforementioned U.S. Attorney’s Office press release.
Thomas, who served as the financial controller, faces six counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
Wood served as the company’s operations director and is charged with three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
Bang served as a cattle broker and has been charged with eight counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
Tia served as the marketing director and faces three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
Her husband Joshua served as Agridime’s executive director and is facing 10 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of money laundering for his role in orchestrating the scheme.
Tia and Bang appeared for arraignment in Fort Worth, Texas on Feb. 12 and both were released under pretrial supervision, while Wood and Thomas were set to appear for arraignment on Feb. 25, according to the release.
Joshua’s whereabouts are currently unknown, and he is considered a fugitive by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
So far, all charges against the indicted individuals remain alleged. However, if proven guilty, the defendants face up to 20 years in federal prison for each convicted count of wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy and up to 10 years in prison for each convicted count of money laundering, according to the press release.
Grace Skavdahl is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
