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The Mighty Fall

W

webfoot

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 8, 2008
Messages
1,680
Location
NE Oregon
Has anybody been watching this whole mess with Easterday. I see now the Rabo bank has jumped in and is saying that the Easterday Farms Inc and Easterday Ranches Inc bankruptcy should be separate. I think it is because Tyson has the feedlots hung out to dry and wants money from the farm side of the operation. Rabo has loans to the farm side of the operation and they want the first shot at getting their money.
The old man turned the wrong way on to the freeway and took on one of their semi trucks head on. There is a question as to this was maybe suicide. Cody is facing up to 20 years for fraud. And the rest of the family will be lucky to walk away with the shirt on their back. One does have to wonder how all this is going to shake out.
 
They owe Tyson for 200,000 head of cattle and feed that they supposedly bought and were feeding for Tyson. But those cattle didn't exist. Two big feedlots, thousands of acres of irrigated farm ground, potato and onion processing plants. They had recently bought a 30,000 cow dairy that was in trouble with both the state and the bank. That farm included something like 6,000 acres of farm ground. Cody was something of a high roller. Apparently rolling with other peoples money.
I know the guy who was their main cattle buyer. About mid October he was at La Grande buying everything that walked in the ring. Suddenly he wasn't there anymore. A person wonders what happens now? Potato and onion plants shut down? People out of work. A lot of farm ground remaining fallow this year? A couple big feedlots that are empty. That is over 100,000 calves that someone else will have to buy. Grain, hay, and silage growers who lost their market. It is a big mess for people other than the Easterday family.
 
Prime farmland with top water rights and it will sell at auction for a nice price.
The LDS church will bid on all the farms. They own others in the area.
Yet to be decided if they will auction as four farms or be lumped together.
The LDS is making an opening bid of $200 million for all four farms.
I suspect they will bid whatever it takes to get the farms as the water rights
are of a high value to them since they have other farms along the Columbia.

Over three generations family-owned.
Cody lost $202 million in commodities trading.
Cody defrauded Tyson out of $233 million.
Total debt estimated over $400 million.

20 years in prison expected for Cody.

I heard that some big corporation was appointed to keep the farms going and intact until they can be sold and all court proceedings are concluded, so they don't expect too big an impact. One of the Easterday Produce Farms was separate and will not be affected as others in the family own it and had no involvement. The cattle are expected to stay in the feedlots until later this month.

Moral of the story

If you have prime farmland and top water rights since 1958
and you are making substantial profits, then leave the
commodities trading to those that specialize in it.

.
 
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I met Cody one time. He impressed me as pretty self centered high roller. They could have just kept on with what dad built and they would have all been pretty darn wealthy for life. I wonder what the rest of the family will do now that they are going to have to scratch with the chickens like other people.
 
Something similar to that happened in SD several years back. It wasn't on that big a scale, but it was big enough.
Guy had several loans on cattle that weren't there. He started selling his own beef through a restaurant he started.
It was a big mess, lots of creditors and not many assets. I think he is in prison now. He ALMOST got out of the country, but they caught him in FLorida, I thinkk

Yeah, high rollers on other people's money. CROOKS.

I did a search to see if I could find the information on the guy I was posting about...HOLY COW! There are LOTS and LOTS of cattle/livestock scammers out there. I was amazed!! and disheartened.
 
I think the people who trade commodities do that because it's against the law to smoke crack. Other than that, the addictions seem to have some similarities.
 
FH, speaking of fraudulent cattle deals, I saw recently that the feds had also indicted Garland Nelson. He's the guy from Missouri that killed the Diemel brothers from Wisconsin when they caught on to his scam. I think he finally goes to trial for murder next month.

Here's a story on the federal indictment, but if anybody is interested and doesn't recall the details, do a search for more stories about the murders and disposal of the bodies. Sick stuff.

www.kshb.com

Federal grand jury indicts Garland Nelson in cattle fraud, murder scheme

Garland Joseph Nelson, the man charged in the deaths of two Wisconsin men in rural Missouri, is now facing federal cattle fraud charges.
www.kshb.com www.kshb.com
 

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