LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- Agridime LLC executive Joshua R. Link, who was wanted by the FBI, was captured at Los Angeles International Airport by federal and local authorities on Monday, according to the FBI's office in Dallas, Texas.

According to a post on X, the FBI in Dallas said Link was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, LAX Airport Police and FBI task force officers from the Los Angeles Police Department.

A federal grand jury in Fort Worth, Texas, indicted Link and four other Agridime employees for their alleged roles in a $220 million nationwide fraud scheme involving cattle purchase contracts.

Link, a resident of Strafford, Missouri, was charged with 10 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and two counts of money laundering, including wiring more than $527,000 to purchase real property.

The indictment alleges that from January 2021 through December 2023, the five defendants, acting through Agridime, perpetrated a fraud scheme in which they falsely represented to individual cattle purchasers, cattle ranchers and feedlots that Agridime would use their funds to purchase specific individual cattle for each victim, raise the cattle and eventually sell the meat from the same specific individual cattle for a profit.

The indictment said the defendants did not use victim funds as promised and instead used newer cattle purchaser funds to pay Agridime operating expenses, pay funds owed by Agridime to earlier cattle purchasers, pay personal expenses and purchase property.

As a result, the indictment alleges they collected more than $220 million from more than 2,200 individuals throughout the country, because of "fraudulent misrepresentations" made in public and private advertising statements.

Also indicted were Jed Wood of Fort Worth; Tia Link, Smithton, Missouri; Taylor Bang, Kildeer, North Dakota; and Royana Thomas, Arlington, Texas.

Agridime was a business headquartered in Fort Worth that offered cattle sales and meat processing and retail services to the public.

Wood served as the operations director, Joshua Link served as executive director, Tia Link served as the marketing director, Bang served as a cattle broker and Thomas served as the financial controller.

Wood has been charged with three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of money laundering involving wiring more than $63,000 to a lender for "home payoff."

Tia Link was charged with three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of money laundering, including wiring more than $527,000 to purchase real property.

Bang was charged with eight counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of money laundering, while Thomas faces six counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of money laundering.

Agridime, an online beef and cattle marketing company, was ordered by a court last year to pay $103 million in restitution to customers who believed they were trading in cattle or cattle futures.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission brought the case against Agridime and its owners in 2024. Agridime and its owners agreed to a consent order handed down by the CFTC.

The CFTC and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission each had alleged that Agridime engaged in a Ponzi scheme by defrauding customers through soliciting investors to pay off other customers and investors.

If convicted, the defendants face up to 20 years in federal prison on each wire fraud count as well as 20 years imprisonment for wire fraud conspiracy. Additionally, the defendants face up to 10 years in prison for each money laundering count.

Read more on DTN:

"Agridime Fraud: 5 Face Fed Charges," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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