SEC Obtains Emergency Relief to Halt $191 Million Cattle Ponzi Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it obtained a temporary restraining order, asset freeze, the appointment of a receiver, and other emergency relief to halt an ongoing $191 million cattle Ponzi scheme being perpetrated by Fort Worth, Texas company Agridime LLC, which claims to specialize in meat sales, distribution, and animal supply chain management, and its owners, Josh Link of Gilbert, Arizona, and Jed Wood of Fort Worth. The SEC alleges that the defendants diverted millions of dollars of investor funds to make Ponzi payments and to pay undisclosed sales commissions to themselves and others. “The defendants enticed investors with guarantees that they could ‘make money raising cattle without having to do all the work,’ but as we allege in our complaint, their promises of annual returns of 15‑32 percent were, in the defendants’ own words, ‘too good to be true,’” said Eric Werner, Director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office.