DTN writer Todd Neeley reported earlier this week that, “Two of three men indicted on 14 counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and making false statements to attain loans and crop insurance for Decatur, Michigan-based Stamp Farms LLC, have been sentenced to prison time. They have been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution as a result of reaching plea agreements.
“According to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Western Michigan, James Leonard Becraft, Jr. pleaded guilty to conspiracy to make false statements on crop insurance forms. On Feb. 12, he was sentenced to a year in prison, a two-year supervised release and ordered to pay $648,188 in restitution to the Risk Management Agency in Kansas City, Missouri.
“Douglas Edward Diekman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to make false statements on crop insurance forms. On Dec. 20, 2018, Diekman was sentenced to 13 months in prison, a two-year supervised release and ordered to pay $488,432 in restitution — $409,403 to RMA and $79,029 to the Farm Service Agency in Kansas City.”
The DTN article stated that, “On Dec. 13, 2017, a grand jury handed down an indictment of Becraft, Diekman and Michael Stamp in connection with the Stamp Farms Chapter 11 bankruptcy filed in November 2012. The bank found Stamp Farms in noncompliance on loan agreements, including working capital and other ratios. Michael Stamp is the former owner of the farm. Stamp’s case has yet to be resolved, as a hearing was scheduled for Tuesday in Michigan.
“Stamp and Becraft originally pleaded not guilty in January 2018, according to court records, after being arrested by Internal Revenue Service agents on Jan. 18, 2018. According to the indictment, the losses alleged in the fraud total about $60.5 million.
“Becraft agreed to cooperate with federal authorities on the investigation into Stamp Farms, as part of the plea agreement.”
Mr. Neeley added that, “The Stamp Farms bankruptcy case left southwestern Michigan landowners and creditors jolted by what legal experts believe was, at the time, the largest grain farm bankruptcy in U.S. history.”
