A cattle-trading system that is described as a Ponzi scheme and that resulted in millions of dollars in losses to victims of the scam has resulted in six-year prison terms for the individuals who ran the fraud, the inspector general for the federal bank deposit insurance fund said Tuesday.
In a release the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) said Reva Joyce Stachniw, 71, of Galesburg, Ill., and Ron Throgmartin, 59, of Buford, Ga., were given the sentences. The OIG said the pair, along with a co-conspirator, ran a Ponzi scheme by fraudulently representing to victims that their investments were backed by short-term investments in Stachniw and Throgmartin’s cattle and marijuana businesses.
The agency said victim-investors gave the conspirators money based on false promises that their investments would be used for legitimate activities related to those businesses. In actuality, the funds were used to pay earlier investors, the OIG said.
Stachniw and Throgmartin were convicted at trial in August of last year of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, five counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
In addition to their terms of imprisonment, Stachniw was ordered to pay about $14.6 million in restitution and to forfeit $6 million. Throgmartin was also ordered to pay about $14.6 million and to forfeit more than $1 million. The restitution was ordered jointly and severally between the two, the OIG said.
Two Individuals Sentenced for Multimillion-Dollar Cattle-Trading Ponzi Scheme