LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — Four senior citizen sisters in Arkansas and three other defendants were sentenced Friday to a combined 136 months in federal prison for their involvement in a scheme to defraud the nation's agricultural department out of more than $11.5 million that was intended to benefit farmers who had been discriminated against.
According to the U.S. attorney's office, the seven defendants pleaded guilty to filing false claims under two programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture: the Black Famers Discrimination Litigation (BFDL) settlement and the Hispanic and Women Farmers and Ranchers (HWFR) claim program.
The BFDL settlement resulted from a class action lawsuit filed in 1997 in which a group of black farmers claimed they had been discriminated against when they applied for farm credit, credit servicing, or farm benefits from USDA, a news release from the attorney's office said.
Similarly, the release explained, the HWFR claim program was created after groups of Hispanic and women farmers filed separate lawsuits against USDA alleging discrimination in their farm benefit programs.
According to officials, sisters Delois Bryant, 76, of North Little Rock; Rosie Bryant, 75, of Colleyville, Texas; Lynda Charles, 73, of Hot Springs; and Brenda Sherpell, 73, of Allport will each serve 24 months in prison following their 2022 guilty plea of conspiring to commit mail fraud and to defraud the Internal Revenue Service.
Authorities said the sisters were involved with a...
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