The Agridime lawsuit refers to a set of civil and criminal cases against Fort Worth-based cattle company Agridime LLC and its principals, who federal regulators and prosecutors allege ran a $220 million Ponzi scheme that took in more than 2,200 investors between January 2021 and December 2023. The SEC shut the company down in December 2023. Since then, the SEC and CFTC have obtained final judgments, a federal grand jury has indicted five people on wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering charges, former CEO Jed Wood has pleaded guilty, and a court-appointed receiver is still working to recover money for investors, none of whom had received distributions as of May 2026.
What Agridime Sold Investors
Agridime marketed itself as a one-stop cattle operation that would buy, feed, finish, process, and sell beef on behalf of investors. Ranchers, feedlot operators, and individual buyers were pitched guaranteed returns of 15% to 32% within a year. An investor typically paid about $2,000 per calf, and Agridime agreed to repurchase the animal at a higher price after it was raised. Investors never took physical possession of the cattle.
According to the SEC, Agridime never bought enough cattle to back its contracts. North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said the company kept only a small number of actual livestock, sometimes showing them to investors as proof of a legitimate operation while most of the promised herd did not exist. A “retained ownership” structure, under which cattle were said to be moved out of state for finishing, helped the company sidestep standard 24-hour livestock payment rules and reduce regulatory scrutiny.
The SEC alleged that at least $58 million from new investors went to pay earlier ones, and more than $11 million was diverted to undisclosed sales commissions for principals and representatives. On August 13, 2024, U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman formally ruled that Agridime had been operating as a Ponzi scheme since October 1, 2021.
The SEC Case and Final Judgments
The SEC filed its civil complaint on December 11, 2023, in the Northern District of Texas, naming Agridime, executive director Joshua Link, and operations director Jed Wood. The complaint alleged securities registration and antifraud violations, saying the company had raised at least $191 million from more than 2,100 investors across 15 states without registering the cattle contracts as securities. The court granted a temporary restraining order and asset freeze the same day and appointed Stephen P. Fahey as receiver.
On September 19, 2025, the court entered final judgments against all three defendants. Agridime was ordered to pay $102,936,904 in disgorgement and $17,310,965 in prejudgment interest, amounts deemed satisfied by the receiver’s ongoing collection work. Wood was ordered to pay roughly $2.6 million in disgorgement, interest, and civil penalties. Link was ordered to pay approximately $6.9 million. Both men were permanently barred from serving as officers or directors of public companies and from participating in the issuance, purchase, or sale of securities.
The CFTC Case
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a separate action in the Northern District of Texas in May 2024, alleging Agridime violated the Commodity Exchange Act through fraudulent sales of commodity contracts. A consent order entered on June 10, 2025, imposed $102,936,904 in restitution on Agridime, permanently banned the company from commodity trading and CFTC registration, and coordinated the restitution obligation with the receiver’s collection work in the SEC case to avoid double recovery. Agridime consented without admitting or denying the allegations. Default judgments were entered against Joshua Link ($815,328 in disgorgement) and Jed Wood ($1,472,128 in disgorgement), along with permanent injunctions and trading bans.
The Criminal Charges
A federal grand jury in Fort Worth returned criminal indictments on February 11, 2026, charging five people connected with Agridime with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and money laundering. The indictment described a $220 million fraud with more than 2,200 victims. A 14-count superseding indictment followed on March 11, 2026.
The five defendants and their charges:
- Joshua Link, executive director, Smithton, Missouri: 10 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy, two counts of money laundering.
- Taylor Bang, cattle broker, Killdeer, North Dakota: eight counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy, one count of money laundering.
- Royana Thomas, financial controller, Arlington, Texas: six counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy, one count of money laundering.
- Jed Wood, operations director: three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy, one count of money laundering.
- Tia Link, marketing director, Smithton, Missouri: three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy, one count of money laundering.
Each wire fraud and conspiracy count carries up to 20 years in federal prison. Each money laundering count carries up to 10 years. The indictment alleges the defendants used investor funds to pay earlier investors, cover operating expenses, pay personal expenses, and buy real property. Tia Link was accused of wiring more than $527,000 to buy real property.
Joshua Link, 32, did not appear for arraignment and was placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted fugitives list in February 2026. He was captured on March 9, 2026, at Los Angeles International Airport and transferred to the Northern District of Texas.
Former CEO Jed Wood pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on March 25, 2026. His sentencing is scheduled for July 9, 2026, though it may be continued until after the main trial. The trial for the remaining four defendants is set to begin September 21, 2026, before Judge Pittman. Bang has pleaded not guilty.
A Related Case: Shady Brook Ranch
A second federal criminal case grew out of the same investigation. A Fort Worth grand jury indicted brothers Jason Link and Joshua Link over a scheme involving Agridime and a Kansas operation called Shady Brook Ranch. Prosecutors allege the brothers caused Agridime to pay millions to Shady Brook for cattle feed and care services that were either already provided by another entity or never legitimately owed, using inflated invoices to route money into an account Jason Link controlled. The alleged scheme ran from late 2021 through early 2024 and cost Agridime more than $2.6 million. Some of the money allegedly paid for a large Kansas home and a Hummer H2. The charges include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. Trial is set for September 21, 2026.
Where Investor Recovery Stands
Court-appointed receiver Stephen P. Fahey has managed Agridime’s assets since December 2023. More than 2,100 investors filed claims totaling roughly $102 million. As of the receiver’s quarterly report for the period ending June 30, 2025, the receivership held $2,585,693 in cash. The receiver had recovered $424,910 from clawback efforts against more than 155 “net winners,” meaning investors who took out more in Ponzi payments than they put in, and was pursuing about $15 million more in potential clawbacks from investors and sales commission recipients.
A planned $15.7 million sale of Agridime and American Grazed Beef assets to a North Dakota investment group led by Wiley Bice fell apart when the buyers missed the court-approved closing deadline. The court sanctioned the group $82,122 in attorney’s fees after it failed to appear at a show-cause hearing. In December 2025, the receiver filed a separate breach-of-contract suit against the group, estimating potential damages above $11 million. The receiver has since begun marketing the remaining assets individually, including ten parcels of real estate in Kansas and Illinois.
As of the receiver’s ninth quarterly report, filed May 1, 2026, no distributions had been made to investors. The receivership remains active.