CFTC Now Accepting Claims for Whistleblower Awards in Massive Cattle Fraud Case

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The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently released a Notice of Covered Action (NCA) regarding enforcement actions being taken against Easterday Ranches, located in Washington.

In December, the government ordered Easterday Ranches to pay $263 million in restitution penalties associated with a fraudulent cattle scheme. Whistleblowers can now submit award applications to the CFTC for collection

Case background

According to the CFTC, from October 2016 to November 2020 the ranch routinely submitted fraudulent invoices and reimbursement requests for more than 200,000 cattle it never purchased or raised. The company received more than $233 million in return from these fraudulent invoices and reimbursement requests.

In addition, the CFTC alleges in both 2017 and 2018 the ranch reported false or misleading information regarding its inventory, purchases and sales of cattle to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

As a result of its findings, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington ordered Easterday to pay more than $233 million in restitution, plus a $30 million civil monetary penalty.

Any whistleblower who provided the FCTC with information related to the case should now submit an application for whistleblower awards. Qualifying submissions will result in financial benefit for those whistleblowers. Qualifying whistleblowers who voluntarily provided original information that aided the agency in bringing the enforcement action are entitled to 10 to 30 percent of the funds recovered by the government.

Whistleblowers are required to fill out and submit Form WB-APP within 90 days of NCA publication.

For more information about how to report information to the CFTC and apply for a whistleblower award, contact an experienced attorney at Kardell Law Group.

By Steve Kardell | Published February 5, 2022 | Posted in Fraud, Whistleblower Litigation | Tagged Cattle Fraud, CFTC, CFTC Whistleblower Program

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