The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed a lawsuit against Agridime LLC, accusing the company of running a $161 million Ponzi scheme.
According to Law360, on May 10, 2024, the CFTC submitted a complaint to the Texas Northern District Court against Agridime and its co-founders, Joshua Link and Jed Wood.
The complaint claims that from 2021 to around December 11, 2023, Agridime and its co-founders deceived thousands of customers across at least fourteen states. They allegedly solicited and accepted customer funds under false pretenses, using them to pay other customers in a Ponzi-like manner. The money was supposedly for purchasing cattle but was not used as intended.
During this period, the defendants reportedly obtained over $161 million from more than two thousand victims for cattle procurement.
Agridime operated an online platform, offering customers the chance to invest in cattle trading with promised annual returns of 15 percent to 20 percent. The company assured customers they could profit from cattle raising without any day-to-day responsibilities.
Under Agridime’s cattle program, customers claim they were led to believe their investments would go towards buying and caring for cattle until they were ready for processing and sale. However, it is alleged that Agridime did not fulfill its obligations under the cattle purchase agreements; instead, it used new customers’ funds to pay returns to earlier investors.
Additionally, the complaint claims that around $11 million in undisclosed commissions, including payments to Agridime personnel, were taken from customers’ funds.
In January, the website for Agridime was updated with information about the charges brought against the company by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
On May 1, the Agridime website was again updated with a quarterly report detailing the assets, liabilities, and more from Judge Pittman.
The company continues to sell beef under the American Grazed Beef label because Agridime assets were frozen after allegations of $191 million from 2,100 investors in 15 states were made.
The report details that the court-appointed Receiver does not believe bankruptcy is the best option at this point because of the perishable nature of cattle and beef on hand. Liquidation plans are anticipated by July 31, 2024.