Becker farmer sentenced for $1.4 million USDA farm loan fraud

(St. Paul, MN) -- A Becker man was sentenced to pay over $1.4 million in restitution, serve three years’ probation, and 150 hours of community service for converting collateral that secured loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

According to court documents, in 2017 and 2018, 67-year-old Robert Waldon John Anderson used false and fraudulent statements to obtain five Commodity Credit Corporation loans through a federal farm loan program administered by the Farm Service Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

As part of the loan terms, Anderson pledged to maintain bushels of corn as collateral, agreeing not to move or dispose of them without prior approval of the CCC.

According to court documents, in late 2018, the FSA conducted a spot check and discovered that the bins of corn Anderson pledged as collateral for three of the loans were almost empty. Anderson had sold the corn under a family member’s name to avoid detection by the CCC.

The FSA also learned that Anderson orchestrated two fraudulent loans in the names of family members for which collateral grain never actually existed. In total, Anderson defrauded the USDA of $1,425,718.36.

On May 6th, Anderson pleaded guilty to one count of conversion of CCC security.