FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - Two North Dakota farmers are facing federal charges after prosecutors say they hid how much they harvested from insurance adjusters so they could collect crop insurance payments for losses that did not happen.
A federal grand jury indicted Daniel Scott Flaten and Derek Scott Flaten on one count of conspiracy to make false statements to influence the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, according to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota. Daniel Flaten is also charged with two counts of making false statements, and Derek Flaten with two counts. The indictment is dated Oct. 8.
The indictment says that between 2016 and 2025 the two insured crops and submitted claims, personally and on behalf of others, and that they received nearly $15 million in crop insurance payments, subsidies and disaster payments. It does not allege that all of that money was improper. It says the conspiracy ran from about January 2021 to Jan. 31, 2023, and that the Flatens collected about $619,130 they weren’t entitled to on just three crop insurance policies. The government also paid about $103,966 in additional subsidies connected to those policies, according to the indictment.
According to the indictment, Daniel Flaten reported false losses on corn and soybeans he farmed. During the same seasons, the indictment says, he sold some of his corn under Derek Flaten’s name, telling grain elevators the corn...
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