By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
A Barren County farmer agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Agriculture nearly $10 million after being charged in connection to a multi-year scheme to commit crop insurance fraud.
Larry Walden entered into a guilty plea on May 15 in the Eastern District of Kentucky to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering by “presenting copies of…checks and fake sales receipts to his insurance adjuster…in order to trigger larger indemnity payment” on the burley tobacco he grew on farmland in Barren County.
From 2014 through 2019, Walden “agreed with and used services offered by individuals who worked at Farmers Tobacco Warehouse…in Boyle County” to conceal his production in order to “falsely deflate his tobacco production reports on his insurance claims of loss…including obtaining documentation [that made] it appear as though [Walden] purchased the tobacco he sold on his contracts,” according to his guilty plea.
He was writing checks to Farmers Tobacco Warehouse that he showed to his adjuster and the company wrote him a check for the same amount, “less some fees.”
The plea also states Walden showed his adjuster financial records that he had purchased several thousand pounds of tobacco from several other individuals, who then returned the funds to Walden and did not report the tobacco sales he sold under other people’s names.
“In making it appear as though he purchased the tobacco he sold on his contract, [Walden] knew he could report a much smaller production amount on his insurance claim of loss, in order to trigger or inflate an indemnity payment on his federal crop insurance claim of loss,” the plea states.
He had similar schemes in 2020 with Greensburg Tobacco Market and in 2021 through 2022 with Fair Deal Tobacco, according to the court records.
Walden’s sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 22 at 11:30 a.m. in Lexington before judge Karen K. Caldwell.
Consequences
The statutory punishment for the money-laundering charge is “not more than” 20 years, a fine “not more than” $500,000 — or twice the value of the property involved — and supervised release of at most three years, the plea states.
Through his guilty plea, Walden agrees to pay $9.96 million to the United States Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency in addition to forfeitures, which include:
- 120 acres on Happy Valley Road in Glasgow
- A $900,000 cash payment in place of forfeiting 170 acres off Flint Knob Road in Cave City
- $750,000 of which is due in a lump sum payment within 3 months of “execution of [the] agreement.”
- A $5.12 million personal money judgment as part of the laundering conviction
- A 5.74-acre property and home on Pace Quarry Road
As part of the plea agreement, Walden “agreed to a voluntary, five-year exclusion from participating in or receiving benefits from any federal procurement or non procurement transaction[s],” including Department of Agriculture programs.
