LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- U.S. attorneys asked a federal court in Michigan to expedite the case of a farmer accused of committing federal crop insurance and farm benefits fraud, alleging the producer is attempting to sell assets to his grandson to avoid paying more than $19 million in debts owed to the federal government.
In December 2021, the U.S. filed a complaint alleging Gaylord Lincoln violated the False Claims Act by maintaining a "scheme to fraudulently obtain more federal farm benefit program payments than he was entitled to receive," according to the U.S. attorney's office. Lincoln farms in four south-central Michigan counties.
The lawsuit alleges Lincoln financed a network of so-called "straw lessees" to help circumvent USDA benefits limits set on farms from 2010 to 2019.
U.S. attorneys alleged in a court brief filed this month that Lincoln is on track to sell assets to his grandson, 20-year-old Carter Gibbs, by November, although the government contends Lincoln owes it more than $19 million as a result of alleged fraud.
"Once that land is sold, defendants will no longer have a non-exempt interest in the land, and the United States' application for prejudgment remedies against that land will be moot," the U.S. said in a court brief filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Western Michigan.
"Defendants have created another straw farming operation -- this one purportedly owned by Lincoln's grandson, Carter Gibbs -- to which they are assigning and...
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