Federal Jury Convicts Link Brothers in $240 Million Cattle Investment Fraud With More Than 2,200 Victims
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas announced that a federal jury on November 10 convicted brothers Joshua Robert Link and Jason Allen Link of multiple fraud offenses for their roles in a cattle investment scheme run through Fort Worth-based Agridime, LLC, in Tarrant County, Texas, that took in more than $240 million from more than 2,200 victims across the United States.
Following a six-day trial before U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman, the jury found Joshua Link, Agridime's co-owner and Executive Director, guilty of two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud, and two counts of money laundering. Jason Link, who owned Shady Brook Ranch, LLC and served as an Agridime livestock broker and Meat Chain Director, was found guilty of one count of wire fraud conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud, and two counts of money laundering.
Trial evidence showed the defendants sold cattle contracts to individual purchasers for $2,000 per steer or heifer, falsely representing that Agridime would use each buyer's money to purchase, care for, process, and sell meat from that buyer's own specific cattle. Instead, purchaser funds paid Agridime's operating expenses and loan payments and amounts owed to earlier purchasers, and the defendants fraudulently overstated the amount of cattle Agridime owned to secure loans and financing from financial institutions, private lenders, and feedlots.
From January 2021 through December 2023, Agridime collected over $240 million based on fraudulent misrepresentations and sold the public approximately 60,000 more head of cattle than it controlled in inventory. The brothers also submitted fraudulent requests for feed and yardage payments that caused Agridime to pay over $2.7 million to a business solely controlled by Jason Link for services another company had already provided and been paid for. From 2022 through 2023, Josh and Tia Link received over $2.7 million and Jed Wood over $2.4 million in salaries and commissions, and proceeds were diverted to luxury spending including a nearly $1.5 million five-bedroom residence built in Herington, Kansas, and a 2006 Hummer H2.
Four other conspirators, Operations Director Jed Hansel Wood, Marketing Director Tia Makenzie Link, cattle broker Taylor Orris Bang, and Financial Controller Royana Jane Thomas, pleaded guilty before trial. The Link brothers face up to twenty years in prison on each conspiracy and wire fraud conviction and ten years on each money laundering conviction, along with supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. Sentencing for both brothers is set for March 4, 2027.
U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said the defendants preyed on Main Street Americans who believed they were investing in cattle contracts while running a high-tech Ponzi scheme that siphoned away life savings to build luxury retreats and line their own pockets. FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock said the convictions reflect the brothers' calculated efforts to lure investors and misappropriate their funds. The FBI's Fort Worth Resident Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark McDonald and Allyson Monte prosecuted it.
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：德州 Henrietta 一处牧场的牛群（资料照片）。照片：美国农业部自然资源保护局（USDA NRCS）图库，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / File photo: Cattle on pastureland at a ranch in Henrietta, Texas. Photo: USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Photo Gallery, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
