The new year brings an internal change to our organization, joining TV and radio. The cowboy, Cody Easterday, had received several deferments of his sentence because of a complicated bankruptcy case embroiled in federal court. The family had scrambled for what last money it could. 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. But the victory was brief. Feeding America requires scale, its officials say. Lompoc federal penitentiary has a federal prison camp next to it, where Easterday is housed. That's because while meatpackers like Tyson were buying up all the brands and slaughterhouses, they eliminated his ability to shop around. LOTS OF CATTLEMEN WILL TELL YOU that Cody Easterday is an outlier. "DTN" and the degree symbol logo are trademarks of DTN. Easterday's first recorded big loss was in 2011, when court records show he lost almost $14 million. He's an occasional laborer who also works at a farmworker housing complex run by a Seattle-based health clinic. As part of his defense, Easterday also admitted to having a gambling habit in court documents where he lost millions of dollars on the beef futures market. Bob Brawdy, Tri-City Herald. According to court documents, Cody Allen Easterday, 49, of Mesa, used his company, Easterday Ranches Inc., to enter into a series of agreements with Tyson and Company 1 under which Easterday Ranches agreed to purchase and feed cattle on behalf of Tyson and Company 1. And because no one can know what the market price of beef will be in some months, he never knew whether he would break even. Those heavyweights were secured by contracts or collateral, something other than friendship. Apr. It was $503,000 at Industrial Ventilation. Financial institutions have a chronic ongoing problem of trying to verify assets relative to loan portfolios, Peel says. The Easterdays supported mechanics and parts stores and irrigation specialists all over town, often keeping large accounts open. Continue Reading Cody Easterday sentenced to 11 years in prison for cattle fraud scam, A contentious hearing was held on the bankruptcy case of the Easterday empire. And we're sitting here going, 'We can't pencil that, that doesn't work.'" And that's a good thing, because he's the only one left driving the price of beef up for the rancher. Woodward says Brown's ideas are 'radical' and 'straight out of Seattle', Property crimes are way up, violent crimes are down, and politicians and business owners are waging a war of perception over the safety of downtown Spokane, A plan to save native fish species in Priest River meets resistance from Priest Lake homeowners and the state Senate, Environmental and faith groups oppose plans to pump more gas through an Inland Northwest pipeline, Spokane students demand gun reform; plus, Spokane wrestles with dwindling water resources, and Airway Heights seeks City Council applicants. As beef industry heavyweights go, Tyson has few equals. All rights reserved. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Some of the fake invoices included pen numbers, the animals' gender, even a financial analysis of their prospects in the market. In the months after pleading guilty to wire fraud, Easterday raised tens of millions of dollars through asset sales in an attempt to make restitution to Tyson. Easterday alleges that by shutting down its Idaho meatpacking plant in 2006, Tyson "eliminated competition, creating a bottleneck of only one geographically feasible meatpacking plant for cattle feeders and ranchers located in the Pacific Northwest," the lawsuit said. But Easterday quickly lost another $18 million. When Mr. Easterday attempted to seek a change to the terms of this arrangement and renegotiate their contracts, Tyson exercised its market power and threatened to shut down the Pasco packing plant.". Eastern Washington rancher sentenced for 'ghost cattle' fraud Cody Easterday was sentenced to 11 years in prison for what U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Bastian called "the biggest theft or. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Tyson says it's paying for feed for cattle that don't exist, Activists urge scrutiny on 'mega-dairies' amid lawsuit. Easterday pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and agreed to repay $244,031,132 in restitution. Cody Easterday, through an attorney, declined to be interviewed for this story. FLCs organize, transport and manage pay for these crews, which in turn supply farms like Easterday with frequent on-demand help doing these most difficult and timely chores. The complaint alleges that, from at least October 2016 to November 2020, Easterday Ranches submittedfalse invoices and reimbursement requests relating to more than 200,000 head of cattle that the Central Washington farmnever actually purchased or raised on the producers behalf. She tweets infrequently @lvdvoo. LISTEN (Runtime: 1:04) READ A big-time Northwest rancher has snatched himself a last two-week extension of freedom, before he goes into federal prison. They were donors and boosters for Republican candidates and campaigns, gifted livestock to fairs in three counties, and sponsored one of the region's biggest rodeos, the Pendleton Round-Up. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. He disputed that he had been stealing, called the phony invoices "forward billing" instead. It follows the bankruptcy of the Easterday family empire after its multi-million-dollar cattle swindle. Get a quick look at the most important local stories of the day with KUOW's Today So Far newsletter. Maybe this was good news for Cody Easterday, who could finally gain something from the consolidation and higher prices. That industry parlance feedlots is shorthand for saying the cattle are raised in pen after pen after pen on dirt squares that look from the sky like enormous bingo cards. That's because once the cattle were grown, Easterday had to repay Tyson the money the company had loaned him to buy and feed them. The Department of Justice reports that the companies charged Easterday Farms under various agreements for the purported costs of purchasing and feeding of hundreds-of-thousands of cattle that did not exist. Cash crop farm with biogas plant in Saarland for sale. And Easterday, who was 79, had been making his usual rounds in an industrial part of Pasco, Washington. Informa Markets, a trading division of Informa PLC. AgriNorthwest is owned by the Mormon Church and operates farms in Benton and Walla Walla counties in southeast Washington. The CFTC's complaint stated Easterday amassed more than $200 million in losses during a 10-year period, trading cattle futures on both his personal and business accounts. Ranchers have long complained about lowball prices from these companies. He was at the helm of four generations of farming and ranching, a multimillion-dollar operation that grew, packed and shipped a massive amount of onions and potatoes, plus raised beef on feedlots outside of town. In connection with his commodity futures trading, Easterday also defrauded the CME Group Inc. (CME), which operates the worlds largest financial derivatives exchange. One was Cottonwood Ag Management, a subsidiary of Cascade Investment, owned by Bill Gates. As a result of the scheme, Tyson and Company 1 paid Easterday Ranches over $244 million for the purported costs of purchasing and feeding these ghost cattle. Then he bet again, losing $58 million in 2018. When Easterday filed for bankruptcy, it owed $47,000 and $454,000, respectively, to two farm labor contractors who supplied such workers. Both. Easterday alleges Tyson "inconsistently reported" the ownership of the cattle to regulatory authorities. Cattle rustling is as old as the West. Beginning in approximately 2016 and continuing through November 2020, Easterday submitted and caused others to submit false and fraudulent invoices and other information to Tyson and Company 1. It's still one of the most shocking stories to come out of eastern Washington, one that still puzzles our community. In a bankruptcy hearing, an attorney for Easterday Ranches acknowledged the shortfall, telling a judge, "The pie is not big enough." In addition, Easterday Ranches reportedfalse or misleading information concerning its cattle inventory, purchases, and sales to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in at least two hedge exemption applications seeking permission to exceed the exchanges position limits, federal officals say. Black piggy bank with downward trend line representing recession. Copyright 2023. Inside this system, Easterday was playing an impossible game. It listed both assets and debts between $100 million and $500 million. ", Study examines impact of beer sales in Colorado, Quick Takes: Cover crop program, Iowa Pork leaders, scholarships and more, 2023 meat production expected to decline 1%. Registration is FREE. The Criminal Divisions prosecutors are committed to swiftly and thoroughly prosecuting frauds affecting our nations agricultural and other commodities markets, whether in the heartland or on Wall Street.. But for Easterday, spectacular failure is what happened next. That year, with losses piled high and cash undoubtedly short, Easterday told employees to submit fake invoices to Tyson, a criminal investigation found, billing for cattle he never bought and feed for those imaginary animals. All rights reserved. For the ranchers that remain in business, raising beef is an enterprise of scale scale and futures trading. The Easterday Farms fresh onion facility at on North 1st Avenue in downtown Pasco. Several of the company's contractors were based in the corrugated metal shops nearby. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's action, filed March 31 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, October 09, 1903, Page 9, Image 9, brought to you by Library of Congress, Washington, DC, and the National Digital Newspaper Program. Easterday Ranches is one of the largest agriculture operations in Washington, with 25,000 acres of farmland, a massive dairy operation and thousands of head of cattle used for meat processing. It worked. The second-highest bid was for $208 million from 100C LLC, an investment company owned by Bill Gates. This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. The groups want Oregon to deny Easterday's permit and restrict what it calls "mega-dairies. [But] I find in nearly every circumstance. On Monday, Easterday Farms Inc., which is the crops-producing side of the family business, filed its own petition. Tyson did not respond to DTN's request for comment. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 4 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in. A federal regulatory agency is taking civil enforcement action againstPasco, Wash.-based Easterday Ranches and its owner, Cody Easterday, alleging fraudin connection with the sale of more than 200,000 non-existent head of cattle to its sole customer, Tyson Foods. And because of their market heft, these corporations increasingly influence how the products are made and the prices paid to ranchers to make them. They notethatEasterday Ranches is seekinga draft permitfrom the Oregon Department of Agriculture for a nearly 30,000-cow dairy on the former site of Lost Valley, a dairy shut down by Oregon authorities after more than 200 environmental violations. Debate over the lower Snake River dams' removal has gone on for decades. All rights reserved. Resolved: Release in which this issue/RFE has been resolved. A feedlot (another had been sold). It happened very fast. ceres imagaging lindsay irrigation partner, Feds charge Easterday in phantom cattle fraud scheme. Others think theyre going to pay it all back. The land is southwest of Boardman in Oregon, where much of what's for rent is owned by another real estate investment firm. The original print version of this article was headlined "Betting the Ranch". Over the following year and a half, Easterday's companies and their assets, including large amounts of real . HOME | Easterday Farms Gale Easterday, 79 passed away on Dec. 10, 2020. He says some cattle thieves try to deny their crimes saying they didnt know, others cry and say they didnt mean to. "The way you're positioned, after 10 a.m., it's very hot," he said. But before long, white papers began to point to formula contracts as a key driver of the falling rates of pay. As a member of the DTNPF online community you can contribute to discussions, save your settings, get exclusive email alerts and access to special online sections, and read e-newsletters. Cody was frequently at top efficiency, and Gale was often toting Cody's three boys in his pickup, the next generation in training. "They operate paycheck to paycheck. Coronavirus slowdowns at meatpackers surely accounted for some of the loss cattle were hard to sell in 2020 while plants sputtered, labor was scarce and the supply chain shifted from restaurants to grocery stores. He is scheduled to be sentenced on August 4 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Easterday is scheduled to be sentenced on August 4 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. In a motion to appoint a trustee in the cases, Tyson said it learned Easterday sold one of its feedlots for $16 million just one week before filing for bankruptcy. While small pieces might have stayed in the hands of other smaller operators, the court reasoned it could capture more money for debts more quickly in one whopping sale. The defendant submitted false and fraudulent documentation, and then brazenly used the proceeds to cover his losses and for his personal benefit. Easterday Farms had been a part of Washington's Tri-Cities the agricultural trifecta of Richland, Pasco and Kennewick since 1958, back when Ervine Easterday, Gale's father, saw his fortune in the new freshwater from the Grand Coulee Dam and purchased land in the Columbia Basin. When they recruited Gamino, for example, the Easterdays doubled his salary and afterward advanced him $6,000 to buy the land on which he made his home. Many of these ballerinas-in-training, derisively called petits rats, came from working-class or impoverished backgrounds.They often joined the ballet to support their families, working grueling, six-day weeks. Four generations in, the Easterdays were a powerhouse of ranching and farming. These relationships always involved an unbalanced power dynamic. Easterday Ranches filed with the court last week seeking approval to sell 22,500 acres of land. Farmland Reserve Inc., owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, bought several Easterday farms in Benton County in July for $209 million. Easterday estate farm equipment sell-off one of the largest in US history Anna King , September 9, 2021 One of the historically largest farm equipment sales in the country is happening this week in the Northwest. "You don't get paid, you move on," said Brad Curtis, whose farm was owed $112,000 for feed. Only a portion of the company's $43.2 billion in sales is profit. Workers travel between six and 10 miles in this position every day, paid by how much they pick. Gale and Karen Easterday are the sole owners of Easterday Farms, with their five children working on the operation. In the daily hum of this meat-making venture and on the farm, Cody was described by one worker as the embodiment of its bustle. Related:Tyson says it's paying for feed for cattle that don't exist. Its likely that Easterday flew down to California in a private jet.