AMID the very serious and pertinent topics up for discussion at international beef conferences, it's always the off-centre goings on in the world of the cattle that dominates chatter.
A rancher sent to jail for defrauding his victims of nearly a quarter of a billion dollars by charging for cattle that never existed was the topic everyone had an opinion on at a recent event Farmonline covered in the United States.
Of course, the fact one of his victims was the world's second largest processor and marketer of beef, Tyson Foods, made the story even more juicy.
Tyson is an American multinational corporation based in Arkansas. It's 14 beef processing facilities have a combined capacity of 155,000 head of cattle per week.
Last year, with pork and chicken included, it sold US$47 billion worth of animal protein.
The talk at the conference was that while everyone was consumed with cyber security in the wake of another big US processor, JBS, being hit by a ransomware attack, old-fashioned fraud crime involving cattle was alive and well.
According to the US Department of Justice, a cattle rancher in Washington last month was sentenced to 11 years in prison for defrauding Tyson Foods and another company out of more than $244 million by charging the victim companies for the purported costs of purchasing and feeding hundreds of thousands of cattle that did not exist.
Court documents said Cody Allen Easterday, 51, of Mesa, used his company, Easterday Ranches, to enter into a series of agreements with Tyson and the other meat processor to purchase and feed 'hundreds of thousands' of cattle on their behalf. But the cattle did not actually exist.
Assistant attorney general Kenneth A. Polite, Jr., of the Justice Department's Criminal Division said the Criminal Division was committed to holding those who carry out fraudulent schemes accountable,"especially those that are complex, long-running, and seriously affect our nation's food industry and commodities market."
Easterday also defrauded the CME Group, which operates the world's largest financial derivatives exchange, by submitting falsified paperwork, which resulted in the CME exempting Easterday Ranches from otherwise-applicable position limits in live cattle futures contracts, the Department of Justice reported.
Inspector General Jay N. Lerner of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Inspector General in the US, said the sentence sends a strong message that individuals who commit fraud will be held accountable for the harm caused to banks, communities and the agricultural sector.
ALSO IN BEEF:
Shan Goodwin
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
