A company that offered customers the opportunity to buy and sell cattle without the actual day-to-day care of the animals is at the center of a $220 million cattle fraud case that spans 14 states.
Five people connected to Texas-based company Agridime LLC were indicted last week, accused of targeting cattle ranchers, cattle buyers and feedlots.
The five collectively squandered $220 million from 2,200 victims between January 2021 and December 2023, according to a U.S. Department of Justice report.
One of the company’s executives, Joshua Link 32, remains a fugitive on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list.
A person purporting to be Link defended Agridime in a Facebook post, saying not all factors are being considered in the case. His Facebook and LinkedIn accounts are associated with an Agridime email address.
He responded to a Cowboy State Daily a Facebook message saying he was willing to provide his side of the story and that there was “more information to come.”
"Let's touch base in a few days," he said. An attorney listed for the executive in court records said he had cut ties with the executive about a year ago.
Sublette County rancher and former Green River Valley Cattlemen’s Association President Mike Vickrey told Cowboy State Daily he was skeptical of the company when he first heard about it several years ago because the rate of returns it promised seemed impossible to maintain.
“I researched it,” he said. “It sounded too good to be true.”
Vickrey said he shared his opinion of the company with a handful of people, adding that he would not invest in the company.
Where’d The Money Go?
The Justice Department report alleges that the company promised to use buyers’ funds to purchase cattle for each customer, raise the cattle and sell the meat for a profit.
Instead, the proceeds were reportedly used to pay the company’s operating expenses and funds owed to earlier cattle buyers.
According to prosecutors, the group also used proceeds on personal expenses and to purchase property.
Cowboy State Daily has not been able to independently verify that Wyoming is one of the states whose beef producers are affected by the case, but Wyoming Livestock Board Director and CEO Steve True said the case is a reminder for Wyoming livestock producers to do their due diligence when buying and selling livestock.
“Everyone needs to be very aware of deals that they’re stepping into, particularly in this time of where the markets are today,” True told Cowboy State Daily.
Cattle prices have soared to record highs, with the U.S. cattle population reaching a 75-year low in recent weeks.
Too Good To Be True?
According to a report by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Agridime operated an online platform that purportedly allowed customers to buy and sell cattle, with the prospect of guaranteed annual rates of return between at least 15% and 20%.
Agridime stated in solicitation materials that purchasers of livestock would “make money raising cattle without having to do all the work,” the CFTC said.
Customers reportedly bought cattle for $2,000 a head.
Agridime would handle the feeding and care of the cattle via farmers with whom the company partnered, until the cattle were ready to be processed and the beef was ready to be sold.
Agridime represented the customers’ funds would be used only for the purchase, raising and feeding of the purchased cattle. Instead, the company used recent customers’ money to pay the guaranteed profits of earlier customers, the CFTC said.
According to a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Agridime also used the funds to pay its sales representatives a commission of typically 10% for each cattle contract sold.
The complaint alleges the company paid sales commissions exceeding $11.1 million through May 2023. The complaint further states Agridime did not disclose the 10% commission when representing to investors how it will use their funds.
True said he was aware of the case, but declined to comment on it specifically because it is an active FBI investigation being handled in Texas.
He called the case “another piece of white-collar crime,” adding that, "there’s always someone that’s offering you something that’s too good to be true.”
Assets Frozen, Charges Filed
According to the SEC complaint, the defendants did not purchase enough cattle to fulfill Agridime’s contracts and instead diverted tens of millions of dollars in investor funds to make Ponzi payments to prior investors and to pay undisclosed sales commissions.
That included commissions of about $1.3 million to Operations Director Jed Wood and $1.3 million to Link and his wife, Tia.
In December 2023, the SEC determined the company was operating a Ponzi scheme and ordered Agridime’s assets to be frozen.
The company was placed under the oversight of a government-appointed receiver who was to preserve the company’s assets while an investigation ensued.
FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock said in a statement that the defendants “allegedly used false promises to lure prospective clients into their scheme and then misappropriated client funds to enrich themselves.”
Victims included ranchers who entrusted their cattle to the company, as well as individuals looking for high-return investment opportunities.
“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,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould in a statement.
Among the five indicted last week are:
• Joshua Link, of Strafford, Missouri, charged with 10 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of money laundering, including wiring more than $527,000 to purchase real property. Link was the executive director of Agridime.
• Link’s wife Tia Link, of Smithton, Missouri, charged with three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of money laundering, including wiring more than $527,000 to purchase real property.
• Jed Wood, of Fort Worth, Texas, charged with three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of money laundering involving wiring more than $63,000 to a lender for “Home Payoff.” Wood served as the company’s operations director.
• Taylor Bang, of Kildeer, North Dakota, charged with eight counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of money laundering. Bang worked as a cattle broker for the company.
• Royana Thomas, of Arlington, Texas, charged with six counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of money laundering. She served as the company’s financial controller.
Tia Link and Bang appeared for arraignment before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Fort Worth on Monday and were released under pretrial supervision. Wood and Thomas are scheduled to appear for arraignment on Feb. 25.
Calls to Vedder Price PC, the Dallas-based attorneys listed for Wood, were not returned prior to publication.
What The Executive Director Says
Joshua Link remains at large in the case and is on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” fugitives list.
A person purporting to be Link defended Agridime’s legitimacy on social media Wednesday, saying not all factors were considered under the receivership’s accounting and that the actual number of pounds of meat in Agridime’s inventory has never been disclosed.
“They were happy to give a tiny snapshot of distorted cattle inventories while admittedly knowing that they didn’t know how to locate all cattle,” the post states.
He told Cowboy State Daily in a Facebook message he would be willing to give “an interview and full details” of his side of the story, promising “more information to come.”
When Cowboy State Daily asked the person if Agridime has ever done business with any ranchers in Wyoming, he replied, “Not that I know of.”
Katherine Miller, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas which is prosecuting the case, said she could not comment on the legitimacy of the Facebook page.
The Agridime website remains active. The company defines itself on its website as “an online cattle and agricultural products brokerage company that utilizes a proprietary trading platform to connect buyers and sellers.”
If convicted, the suspects could each face up to 20 years in federal prison for each wire fraud charge, 20 years for each wire fraud conspiracy charge and up to 10 years for each money laundering charge.
Kate Meadows can be reached at kate@cowboystatedaily.com.
