SEC Halts Alleged $191 Million Cattle Ponzi Scheme

By Will Feuer

The Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a temporary restraining order to halt what it claims is an ongoing $191 million cattle Ponzi scheme being perpetrated by a Texas company and its owners.

The SEC alleges that Agridime and owners Josh Link and Jed Wood diverted millions of dollars of investor funds to make Ponzi payments and to pay undisclosed sales commissions to themselves and others.

"The defendants enticed investors with guarantees that they could 'make money raising cattle without having to do all the work,'" said Eric Werner, director of the SEC's Fort Worth regional office. "Their promises of annual returns of 15%-32% were, in the defendants' own words, 'too good to be true.'"

Agridime raised at least $191 million from more than 2,100 investors in at least 15 states by offering and selling investments related to the supposed purchase and sale of cattle, the SEC said.

Since December 2022, Agridime used at least $58 million of new investor funds to make Ponzi payments to prior investors, and more than $11 million to pay sales commissions to Wood, Link, Link's wife and other Agridime sales representatives, according to the SEC.

Agridime claims to specialize in meat sales, distribution and animal supply chain management, the SEC said.

The SEC's complaint charges the defendants with violating the antifraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws. Among other things, the SEC is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions, civil penalties, and officer and-director bars against Link and Wood. The court has scheduled a hearing for Dec. 20 on the SEC's motion for a preliminary injunction.

Write to Will Feuer at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-14-23 1006ET