Federal jury convicts brothers in massive $240 million cattle investment fraud and embezzlement scheme

FORT WORTH, Texas - United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould announced that a federal jury convicted brothers Joshua Robert Link, formerly of Strafford, Missouri, and Jason Allen Link, of Herrington, Kansas, of multiple fraud-related offenses for their roles in a 240 million scheme that defrauded over 2,200 victims across the United States through Fort Worth-based company, Agridime, LLC.

Following a six-day trial before U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman, the jury convicted the duo on Nov. 10 of the following charges:

• Joshua Link, Agridime's co-owner and Executive Director, found guilty of two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud, and two counts of money laundering.
• Jason Link, who owned Shady Brook Ranch, LLC and served as an Agridime livestock broker and Meat Chain Director, found guilty of one count of wire fraud conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud, and two counts of money laundering.

"These defendants preyed directly on Main Street Americans who believed they were investing in cattle contracts," said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. "Instead of building a legitimate cattle business, the Link brothers ran a high-tech Ponzi scheme, siphoning away hard-earned life savings to build luxury retreats and line their own pockets. Today's verdict sends an unmistakable message: this office will fiercely defend hard-working citizens from predatory fraudsters and ensure that those who exploit investors are held fully accountable under the law."

"These convictions reflect the two brothers' calculated efforts to lure prospective investors into their multi-million-dollar scheme and then misappropriate those funds to enrich themselves," said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock. "The FBI remains committed to working with our law enforcement partners to identify, investigate, and disrupt fraud schemes that target our communities."

According to court documents, Joshua Robert Link of Strafford, Missouri, conspired with Jed Hansel Wood of Fort Worth, Texas; Tia Makenzie Link of Smithton, Missouri; Taylor Orris Bang of Kildeer, North Dakota; and Royana Jane Thomas of Arlington, Texas to operate Agridime, LLC, and defraud cattle purchasers of their money.

The trial evidence proved, among other things, that the defendants:

• executed cattle contracts with individual cattle purchasers that falsely represented to cattle purchasers that Agridime would use their funds to purchase specific individual cattle; care for the cattle; process the cattle into meat; and sell the meat from the same specific individual cattle. To execute their fraudulent scheme, Joshua Link and others made fraudulent misrepresentations via direct and online solicitation and offered the public the ability to purchase cattle online by paying $2,000 to purchase one steer or heifer, with a promise their money would be used to buy individual cattle for each victim, as shown in the advertisement below

• intended to use and did use cattle purchaser funds to pay Agridime operating expenses, Agridime loan payments, and funds owed by Agridime to earlier cattle purchasers pursuant to their cattle contracts
• fraudulently overstated the amount of cattle owned by Agridime to secure loans or financing from financial institutions, private lenders, and feedlots
• disbursed funds paid by cattle purchasers to, among other things, pay themselves excessive salaries and to pay commissions to cattle brokers
• diverted Agridime funds to pay their exorbitant salary and commissions. Indeed from 2022 through 2023, the conspirators paid themselves salaries and commissions, with Josh and Tia Link receiving over $2.7 million and Jed Wood receiving over $2.4 million

Evidence and court records show that from 2021 to 2023, Agridime maintained its headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas and also operated and raised and processed cattle in Arizona, Kansas, North Dakota, and other locations. The company offered cattle sales and meat processing and retail services to the public with each co-defendant serving a key role for the company which helped facilitate the fraud scheme.

Those four other conspirators in this matter entered guilty pleas prior to trial.

• Jed Hansel Wood, who served as the Operations Director, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy arising from the relevant fraud scheme on March 25.
• Tia Makenzie Link, who served as the Marketing Director, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering arising from the relevant fraud scheme on June 17.
• Taylor Orris Bang, who served as the Cattle Broker, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy arising from the relevant fraud scheme on Sept. 9.
• Royana Jane Thomas who served as the Financial Controller, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy arising from the relevant fraud scheme on Nov. 4.

Court documents indicate that over 2,200 individual victims located throughout the United States paid Agridime for specific individual heads of cattle, pursuant to a cattle purchase contract based on fraudulent misrepresentations caused by the defendants.

In total, from January 2021 through December 2023, Agridime collected over $240 million based on fraudulent misrepresentations made in public and private advertising statements and sold over approximately 60,000 heads of cattle to the public than they controlled in their cattle inventory, as shown below:

The jury also found that the Link brothers conspired to defraud Agridime itself and its owners. Trial evidence also showed that from November 2021 through January 2024, Joshua Link and Jason Link conspired to submit fraudulent requests for "feed and yardage" payments that caused Agridime to disburse over $2.7 million in funds to a business solely controlled by Jason Link, Shady Brook Farms. The brothers knew that Shady Brook Ranch had not provided those services. A separate company had provided and been paid for the cattle's feed, so Agridime paid twice for the same service.

Bank records revealed that the proceeds were diverted to luxury personal expenditures, including:

• $1,498,275 paid to a construction company to construct a luxury five-bedroom, four-bathroom "barndominium" residence in Herington, Kansas, built for the brothers' recreational use (as shown below)
• $24,838 to purchase a 2006 Hummer H2
• Thousands of dollars in additional checks for solar panel installations and plumbing supplies

Defendants, Joshua Link and Jason Link, face twenty years of prison in each conspiracy conviction, twenty years of prison on each wire fraud conviction and ten years in prison on each money laundering conviction. Jed Wood faces twenty years in prison on his conspiracy conviction. Tia Link faces ten years in prison on her money laundering conviction. Taylor Bang faces five years of prison on his conspiracy conviction. Royana Thomas faces three years of prison on her conspiracy conviction. The defendants also face a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.

Sentencing for Joshua Link and Jason Link is set for March 4, 2027.

The FBI's Fort Worth Resident Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark McDonald and Allyson Monte from the Fort Worth Division prosecuted the case.

Documents

1. 4_26_cr_51_ecf168_link_et_al_second_superseding_indictment_002.pdf
2. factual_resume_jed_wood.pdf
3. factual_resume_royana_thomas.pdf
4. taylor_bang_factual_resume.pdf
5. tia_link_factual_resume.pdf