Federal investigators have unraveled a massive scheme among dozens of insurance agents, claims adjusters, brokers and farmers in eastern North Carolina to steal at least $100 million from the government-backed program that insures crops.

Authorities say the ongoing investigation is already the largest such ring uncovered in the country.

Forty-one defendants have either pleaded guilty or reached plea agreements after profiting from false insurance claims for losses of tobacco, soybeans, wheat and corn. Often, the crops weren't damaged at all, with farmers using aliases to sell their written-off harvests for cash.

Prosecutors compared the case to busting a drug cartel, where federal investigators used a confidential informant to ensnare a key participant in the sophisticated fraud, who then agreed to implicate others. That first wave of prosecutions led to still more names to investigate.

"These defendants make it harder on the honest farmer," Assistant U.S. Attorney Banumathi Rangarajan said. "The more they lie and steal the more premiums and costs go up for the farmers who play by the rules."

The federal crop insurance program was created during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s as a way to keep farmers from going bankrupt because of a bad growing season. The U.S. Department of Agriculture pays about 15 private insurers to sell and manage the policies, but taxpayers are on the hook for most of the losses. Payouts for 2012 have topped $15.6 billion � a figure that is still growing as new claims are filed.

Bruce A. Babcock, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University, said fraud likely accounts for a small percentage of that total.

"There's always fraud in the crop insurance system, but I've seen nothing to suggest it is pervasive," Babcock said. "Eighty percent of the program costs are supported by the federal government. Some people see defrauding taxpayers like cheating on their income taxes."

Those prosecuted in North Carolina raked in millions for years without detection until 2005, when prosecutors say USDA auditors used computer software to mine insurance claims data from across the country for outliers. Among the names identified was Robert Carl Stokes, a Wilson crop insurance agent whose clients appeared to have consistently horrible luck.

Through prosecuting Stokes and his immediate co-conspirators, authorities were led to dozens of others involved in similar frauds throughout eastern North Carolina, with crooked claims adjusters and tobacco brokers working with multiple insurance agents and their farmer clients. The USDA's Office of Inspector General said the recent string of crop insurance convictions in eastern North Carolina eclipses similar investigations anywhere else in the United States.

"Our agents have been involved in a remarkable number of successful crop insurance investigations in this district, with substantial monetary penalties and restitution ordered by the court," said Karen Citizen-Wilcox, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Southeast Region.

USDA requires tobacco growers to take out crop insurance ahead of the growing season, but payment on those policies is not due until after the harvest. If the crop is damaged by bad weather or leaf-munching bugs, the farmer is paid the difference between the value of his diminished harvest and the amount of the policy.

What? There's no waste or fraud in the federal goobermint programs! This is the most rransparent administration in history too!

The simple truth is that if you want a more honest Gov't, you've got to cut down on it's powers.

At this point, I'm all for getting RID of it..

Hard to believe a bunch of millionaires would lie, cheat and steal, ain't it?

Maybe they just needed a tax cut. You can't be too nice to a job provider.

Sycamore

It doesn't say or matter really but I wonder what party affiliation these people have.

100 million is chickenfeed compared to the money stolen/wasted in Medicare/Medicaid....

Who said they were a bunch of millionaires?

Most of the farmers I know are hard pressed to pay bills. Sure, they might have a million in land, but that doesn't put shoes on the children.

You can sure learn a lot of bullshit at Huffpo.

Mot of the farmers I know are broke if you ask them too.....of course, the three new leather loaded dualies out front and the Lexus in the garage.....the turbo snowmobiles and razr in the shed for checking crops......makes it kinda tough to sleep at night.

The ones that I know may be hard pressed to pay the bills but they sure don't live like it. They blow and go until bankruptcy hits. miles

One of the big reasons farmers have a lot of " stuff" is because of the tax code. You either buy more equipment or pay a crapload of taxes. Let's see...pay BHO 10K or buy a 4-wheeler....that's a tough one...It's the system that congress has set up...

That being said, some farmers do cheat on their insurance. They need to be hooked up by all 4 limbs to 4020's and pulled apart. Makes my rates go up and that p*sses me off!

Personally I think the whole program should be done away with.It's time to let everybody sink or swim.

Does that include ski trips or hunting trips to Canada? Don't get me wrong, if you want to do that stuff, fine, but don't cry about how tough times or, or expect me to furnish you farmers welefare. miles

Don't get me wrong, I would rather see my neighbors (farmers) get it than some [bleep] city dweller. The farmers around here all seem to be more than welcome to help me out with trespass rights whenever I ask....but it cracks me up to hear the "I'm broke" story with a quarter mil worth of new luxury sitting in the shop.

.......and the "gotta go to Saskatchewan to observe their soil conservation techniques" every November.

Don't be naive. People lie, cheat and steal. Not just rich people, poor people, men, women, black or white.

When there is a government entity there with a program to "help" or facilitate something it allows for fraud and corruption. Doesn't matter what party. People are there willing to take advantage. Like has been pointed out is the medicare/medicaid fraud that Obama said they would get rid of to help pay for Obamacare, yet we haven't heard anything about getting rid of the fraud since it was brought up. In fact a larger govt program just allows for more fraud and inside deals.

This isn't a new phenomenon. It has been going on since the advent of gov't. Read Nothing Like It In the World. It is about the building of transcontinental railroad. Corruption was a large part of the story.

You guys that are pissing and moaning about the farmers, does this look like I am screwing the pooch?






My banker and CPA tell me no worries, I am land rich.

I invite you to walk in my shoes.

It's not just millionaires. For years a local would plant his crops and then plant with no fertilizer. When his crops failed he would collect the insurance. He was no millionaire, just one of two brothers who lived about a mile from me. He wouldn't plant many acres but he'd pull that every year.

In my career as an insurance agent I couldn't begin to count the fraudulent claims I uncovered. The insureds would pull stuff like that and then talk about "those crooked insurance companies."

Roundoak,

You MUST be cheating the system, heck, I can see tread on them tractor tires! If you were really broke, they would be slicker than Bill Clinton!

The farmers and ranchers I know aren't wealthy, nor have barns full of new equipment. They buy used equipment at auctions and do most of the repair work themselves just to keep costs down.

Land rich? Yeah, I guess so, but having $1 Million worth of land doesn't pay the light bill, put food on the table, OR pay for input costs.

My hat is off to the men and women in this country who farm and ranch. Just like any other group, there are thieves, liars, and cheats.

As to another poster's question about political affiliation, my guess is that most of them are Democrats, since that is what most folks in NC are and have been for decades.
That is changing as they are "old school" Democrats, who look, spend, and talk more like modern Republicans.

Ed

Now it will swing the opposite way and farmers will not be able to get help when they truly need it.

The tax code is what it is and you play by it's rules.

Got a whole lot of relatives that farmed, grandfathers, uncles, cousins. Few did very well, few lost their shirts, most got by. They all worked their butts off.

The ones planting corn now with irrigation and the price of gas so high are raking it in.

The 2nd (GEHL) photo:

You know 'times are lean' when the farmer stops to pick up the 'leavings' on the road.

And those same high corn prices are making it harder on the cattlemen. Feed prices have more than tripled in 11 years, cattle prices - not even close! Fuel prices are even worse!

Mark

Sycamore[/quote]

Too bad your news source never mentions the alcohol, health club memberships,etc bought with EBT cards.

Hawaii sells tons of food yearly to poor Texas dimocraps who use their Lone Star cards there on vacation.

I farm and I'm not a millionaire. Like you, I know a lot of them who are broke. I also know several who are millionaires. Most of them were like the Federal government, they borrowed and stole their way to the top. It finally came home to roost on one family but hell, even after a "reorganization" which followed at least three bankruptcies, none of them are in jail and the three of them still have more land apiece than I do. Supposedly the banks are lending to them again, big-time.

That said, not all who were mentioned were farmers. Lots of us who don't participate in fraud have suspected others of doing so for a long time. I know several families whose take in this country alone for ten or so years worth of government payments was over a million per.

My son and I made a decision to hedge this five years ago at a time when many of our neighbors were planting hay ground to corn and renting extra acres for corn to reap the increasing corn prices. They were tearing out fences, bulldozing brush and trees, plowing up CRP ground, etc. to gain extra acreage.

We increased the corn and hay acreage on our land not to sell as a commodity, rather feed an increased beef herd. Our accountant did a spread sheet on the results compared to if we had increased corn acreage, sold on the commodity market and kept herd size the same for 5 years through 2012. Sorta a what if using corn and beef prices.

The bottom line was 11% better by increasing the beef herd. If we took out the drought year 2012 the bottom line would have been 18% better.

For a long time I always thought I had an advantage farming the hilly country of the Driftless Area of southwest Wisconsin, because in many cases I can farm three sides of it. Top, and two sides.

My farmer neighbor waits until the last couple of days that crop insurance can be purchased for his corn. Happens this field is right on the main traveled blacktop road. Nearly always a loss due to the late planting. Fields on the backside of his place are always put in early and seem to do well. Best I recall he has been through two bankruptcies. Like many things successful farming takes a lot of planning. GW

If you steal you should be punished. I don't care if you're a farmer or a grocery clerk.

I think we can agree that the Feds have no business interfering in the insurance business, it's Sycamore's Marxist envy of anyone who's successful that catches in my craw.

I'm not worried about anyone's envy, but I'm glad that the Feds caught these azzhats who were about to bilk the system for 100 Million bucks.

Instead of being grateful that these criminals were caught, some just use it as another opportunity to rage against the Federal government.

The Fed goobermint does plenty of things I don't agree with, but catching these kinds of crooks ain't one of them.

The democrats created crop insurance so the devil made the republican farmer. See both are up to no good.

Yep, friggin millionaires


http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/09/25/New-Obama-Farmers-Settlements-Designed-For-Fraud

Point being that if the Gov't didn't have this hair brained scheme, there wouldn't have been this opportunity for these schmucks to steal from you and me.

I'm sure there's a bunch they won't catch too.

I noticed a large land clearing operation last week, about six miles from our place. Neighbor tells me they are going to plant corn on it, the first in several decades in this area. Most ground here is for cattle operations and hay production. Row crops went out in the late 70's, early 80's.
Corn prices are high enough to get folks attention and make them want to raise local corn just for the animal feed industry.

Ed

$100 Million, divided by 41 defendants. Can you do the math? Yahoo.com has an online calculator, if you need it.

I don't know what a huffpo is, but it didn't help your arithmetic skills.

Sycamore

I'd be very happy to have more honest citizens.

Barry, I'm sorry you can't read too well, I blame a democrat school teacher for that, probably a union one too.

John Moses hit it on the head for me, and Mickey Coleman also.

People steal, all kinds of people. The people that do should be caught and punished. The productive people that need some help should get it too, whether a farmer with a run of bad luck, or a laid off factory worker. We need farms, and farmers, and factories and factory workers in this country.

I don't favor lifetime welfare, for anyone. (maybe severely handicapped, mentally or physically)

Sycamore

that's a goofy law or policy. the ONLY upside, I bet it gets back into the economy, pronto!

I wonder if they would run through $50k faster if they headed for a casino, or bought equipment and seed and tried to farm?

Sycamore

That's the hell of it. No matter what "help" one comes up with there are some that figure out how to scam it, and it eventually gets pulled from those that need it.

Sycamore

I see; borrow money from china, give it away... it's a good thing.
Ya'll need to give some of land to the Zuni's so they can build more casino's. While your at it give obama some of them government checks back so they can pay back china.

Now that's just piss-poor management, to have an EBT card that will BUY alcohol.

And silly to have one that will do a health club membership.

Food in Hawaii, huh? Unless they are families of Texans stationed there, I can't see it, and even then, Uncle Sugar should be paying, not the Great State of Texas.

There ought to be a way to rig those cards so they only work within x number of miles of the home. What would you suggest? 10 miles? 50 miles?

They shouldn't work in Hawaii. I can see if some body lives at the border, with NM, OK, or LA (do you rub up against AR?) you ought to be able to use it for 15 miles inside another state, or what ever number seems right.

Maybe 10 miles if you live in Houston, and 150 miles (350?) if you live in Alpine?

Sycamore

The Zuni's have a casino? Why wasn't I informed?

I figured you for a Phoenix boy, but your feelings are too butt-hurt. I bet some Indians must have whipped your ass in school. That's why I guessed Globe. But you've got a whiner streak in you, so now I'm going to guess you got done out of some low-paying job at the City or County somewhere.

So that's making me think Apache or Navajo County. UNLESS, you had your ass whipped by Indians in sports, couldn't make the team, AND didn't get hired at the power-plant, so I'll say Page!

How'm I doing?

Equinox is coming up, you'll be able to go outside soon.

Sycamore