WASHINGTON- A man has pleaded guilty to defrauding Tyson Foods Inc. and another unnamed company of more that $244 million, charging them for costs of purchasing and feeding hundreds of thousands of cattle. The problem is, the ghost cattle did not exist.Â
Court documents show that 49-year-old Cody Allen Easterday of Mesa used his company, Easterday Ranches Inc., to enter into a series of agreements with Tyson and the unnamed company to purchase and feed cattle on their behalf.Â
As part of these agreements, Tyson and the unnamed company would pay Easterday Ranches to purchase and feed the cattle, and then once the cattle were slaughtered and sold at market price, Easterday Ranches would pay them back (with interest and other costs) and keep any profits.Â
USDA ARS Tyson Foods claims the Pasco, Wash., ranch billed for fictitious cattle and feed. Easterday pleaded guilty in federal court.
A federal regulatory agency is taking civil enforcement action against Pasco, Wash.-based Easterday Ranches and its owner, Cody Easterday, alleging fraud in connection with the sale of more than 200,000 non-existent head of cattle to its sole customer, Tyson Foods.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission s action, filed March 31 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, further accuses Easterday of making false statements to an exchange, and violating exchange-set position limits.
The CFTC’s complaint seeks restitution, disgorgement, civil monetary penalties, permanent trading and registration bans as to Easterday, and a permanent injunction against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations, as charged.
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A Washington man pleaded guilty today to wire fraud and money laundering in connection with his scheme to obtain over $5.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and laundering the proceeds.
Mukund Mohan of Clyde Hill, was charged in July 2020. According to the plea agreement and other records filed in the case, Mohan submitted at least eight fraudulent PPP loan applications on behalf of six different companies to federally insured financial institutions. In support of the fraudulent loan applications, Mohan made numerous false and misleading statements about the companies respective business operations and payroll expenses.
In support of the fraudulent loan applications, Mohan submitted fake and altered documents, including fake federal tax filings and altered incorporation documents. For example, Mohan misrepresented to a lender that, in 2019, his company Mahenjo Inc. had dozens of employees and paid millions of dollars in employee wages and payroll taxes. In support
Reno resident Eric Blair McCartt was sentenced to 25 years in prison Tuesday for producing images of child sexual abuse involving victims under age 12, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
DOJ officials say McCartt, 37, photographed two victims known to him and distributed the images to a chat group dedicated to trading child sexual abuse materials, according to officials.
Authorities say some of the images were posted to the internet and several of the images were found on the computer of someone in another country.
“The production of images of child sexual abuse is heinous and causes incalculable and long-lasting harm to victims, acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the DOJ Criminal Division said in a news release. Thanks to the department’s commitment to prosecuting child abusers and the diligent work of our law enforcement partners, McCartt will serve a substantial prison term in a place where he cannot sexually abuse minors.”