Cattle Fraud

Fraud happens frequently in the livestock business and investment industry. As with any form of fraud, individuals are prosecuted for participation in intentionally deceptive promises or lies made for personal or financial gain. Defrauding people or businesses of money can be a serious offense with extremely harsh penalties. In fact, cattle fraud cases routinely make media headlines because they can involve large sums of stolen or ill-gotten money and victimize many people.

Historically, cattle fraud and deceit have produced some of the most famous crimes and infamous trials in the American West. A cattle rustling, or the simple theft of animals owned by another, was a regular occurrence in the early U.S. livestock scene. Today, modern forms of cattle rustling have expanded to involve intricate business and investment schemes that even resemble Ponzi schemes made infamous by people like Bernie Madoff.

What Is Cattle Fraud?

Cattle fraud cases aren't like they used to be. Where older forms of this crime involved simply backing up a truck to a cattle loading chute, loading up the bed and stealing animals bearing someone else's brand, modern cattle fraud usually involves large scale business investments. People who commit cattle fraud crimes commonly target investors by solicitation of funds with promises they will buy cattle.

Offenders will not purchase livestock but use the money to cover their own expenses and pay other earlier investors their "returns" from profits. These profits never actually existed and made with non-existent investments. Cattle fraud crimes can also target banks and financial institutions by way of loans or lines of credit for non-existent business endeavors.

America's Largest Cattle Fraud Scheme

At Domina Law Group, our attorneys have worked on numerous cattle fraud cases, and have even represented the majority of victims in the largest livestock fraud case in American history. The crime, committed by a man named George L. Young, defrauded more than $170 million from cattle investors and banks. Much like Bernie Madoff's infamous Ponzi scheme, Young's massive scheme involved the false promises of large profits and returns to investors.

Those profits never materialized and Young began to use money from new investors to make payments to older ones, which constitutes an illegal Ponzi scheme. Young was 177,000 head of cattle short of the number he claimed to have. When the scheme crumbled, more than half of the victimized investors turned to our firm to protect their rights. With our dedication and aggressive legal help, investors were able to recover a large amount of their money.

Contact Us Today

Domina Law Group has more than 50 years of combined experience and has worked on numerous and high-profile cattle fraud cases. If you have been a victim of cattle or livestock fraud, our firm can provide you with qualified legal assistance and will fight for your rights. When you work with our firm, you can be confident you chose lawyers who will support you every step of the way. We work closely with all of our clients and evaluate each case on a personal basis. Our experience, dedication and commitment set us above the rest. Contact us today.