Five individuals were federally indicted this week for their roles in an alleged $220 million nationwide fraud scheme involving purported cattle purchase contracts, announced United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould.<\/p>\n
Those indicted by a Fort Worth federal grand jury on February 11, 2026, were:<\/p>\n
Jed Wood\u00a0of Fort Worth, Texas, charged with three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of money laundering involving wiring more than $63,000 to a lender for \u201cHome Payoff\u201d<\/p>\n
Joshua Link\u00a0of Strafford, Missouri, charged with ten counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and two counts of money laundering, including wiring more than $527,000 to purchase real property<\/p>\n
Tia Link\u00a0of Smithton, Missouri, charged with three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of money laundering, including wiring more than $527,000 to purchase real property<\/p>\n
Taylor Bang\u00a0of Kildeer, North Dakota, charged with eight counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of money laundering<\/p>\n
Royana Thomas\u00a0of Arlington, Texas, charged with six counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of money laundering<\/p>\n
\u201cThousands of unwitting investors, ranchers, and others in the cattle industry nationwide were drawn in and victimized by the defendants\u2019 multi-million dollar scheme alleged in this indictment,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould.\u00a0 \u201cMy office, in concert with our law enforcement partners, will hold these defendants accountable and pursue justice on behalf of the victims.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defendants allegedly used false promises to lure prospective clients into their scheme and then misappropriated client funds to enrich themselves. One individual, Joshua Robert Link, remains a fugitive. We are asking the public to contact the FBI if they have any information regarding Link\u2019s location,\u201d said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock.<\/p>\n
As alleged in the indictment, each of the defendants were associated with Agridime LLC, a business headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas that offered cattle sales and meat processing and retail services to the public.\u00a0 Jed Wood served as the Operations Director.\u00a0 Joshua Link served as the Executive Director.\u00a0 Tia Link served as the Marketing Director.\u00a0 Taylor Bang served as a cattle broker, and Royana Thomas served as the financial controller.<\/p>\n
The indictment alleges that, from January 2021 through December 2023, the five defendants, acting through Agridime, perpetrated a fraud scheme in which they falsely represented to individual cattle purchasers, cattle ranchers, and feedlots that Agridime would use their funds to purchase specific individual cattle for each victim, raise the cattle, and eventually sell the meat from the same specific individual cattle for a profit.\u00a0 In reality, as the indictment charges, the defendants did not use victim funds as promised and instead used newer cattle purchaser funds to pay Agridime operating expenses, pay funds owed by Agridime to earlier cattle purchasers, pay personal expenses, and purchase real property.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As alleged, the defendants fraudulently collected more than $220 million from over 2,200 individual victims located throughout the United States due to fraudulent misrepresentations the defendants made in public and private advertising statements.<\/p>\n
If convicted, the defendants face up to twenty years in federal prison on each wire fraud count for which they were indicted as well as twenty years\u2019 imprisonment for the charged wire fraud conspiracy.\u00a0 Additionally, the defendants face up to ten years\u2019 imprisonment for each money laundering count in which they are charged.<\/p>\n
Tia Link and Taylor Bang appeared for arraignment before a United States Magistrate Judge in Fort Worth today.\u00a0 Both were released under pretrial supervision.\u00a0 Jed Wood and Royana Thomas are set to appear for arraignment in Fort Worth before a United States Magistrate Judge on February 25, 2026.<\/p>\n
Joshua Robert Link remains a fugitive. The FBI requests that the public contact the FBI with any information regarding Link\u2019s location.<\/p>\n
\nhttps:\/\/www.fbi.gov\/wanted\/wcc\/joshua-robert-link\n<\/p>\n