U.S. files claims
against feed dealers in USDA livestock feed assistance initiative
fraud case By
Agri-Pulse Staff © Copyright
Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc. Washington,
June 17 – Charging that feed dealers facilitated and profited from
the export of nonfat dry milk earmarked for livestock ranchers in
drought-stricken states, the United States has filed a False Claims
Act suit against R&J Feed Co., Jerry Goodwin, Richard Carter and
Carter Livestock Inc. in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo.,
the Justice Department announced Thursday.
The United States alleges that the
defendants violated the False Claims Act by being involved in the
improper export of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-owned nonfat
dry milk that was earmarked for livestock producers in designated
states. The case involves the USDA’s
livestock feed assistance initiatives in 2002 and 2003. USDA created
the initiatives to provide protein-enriched feed to ranchers. To
that end, the U.S. Agriculture Department provided nonfat dry milk to
feed dealers at little or no cost for incorporation into livestock
feed. Feed dealers who participated in the program were required to
certify, among other things, that the nonfat dry milk received under
the program would only be used to produce feed to be fed to livestock
in specifically enumerated drought stricken states within the United
States. The complaint alleges the defendants falsely certified that
they would abide by these use restrictions but, in fact, facilitated
and profited from the export of millions of pounds of program nonfat
dry milk to other countries. “The USDA’s livestock feed
assistance initiatives were intended to help ranchers in the United
States,” said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil
Division of the Department of Justice. “We will pursue those who
are suspected of seeking to gain financially by ignoring the
program’s rules and not honoring the certifications they make.” To return to the News Index page,
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