Potato contract in Mid-Columbia lawsuit delayed [Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Wash.)]
By Kristi Pihl, Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Wash.) | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
All five of those accused of in the conspiracy have pleaded innocent in
The trial, which was set to begin Wednesday, was delayed to
Attorney
Mendoza represents insurance agent Fred. F. Ackerman, who is accused of developing processing contracts with
Also indicted are Olsen,
Olsen, Peterson and Gordon grew Norkotah Russet potatoes -- a variety not normally used for processing -- and entered into contracts to sell the potatoes to Peterson, Bennett and
The contracts required the potatoes to have a starch content unlikely for that variety and to be at least 80 percent bruise-free, according to the indictment.
When the potatoes did not meet the "exceedingly high" requirements, the contract allegedly required the growers to sell the potatoes for a fraction of their fresh-pack market value, according to the indictment.
<p>"The Norkotah Russet potatoes failed to meet the contract requirements each and every time the purported processing contracts were entered into," the indictment stated. "Yet the conspirators continued to enter into these virtually identical purported processing contracts year after year."
The indictment alleges the contracts were designed to manufacture false revenue losses for the growers, who submitted insurance claims to recoup the losses from selling at bargain basement prices.
The defendants are accused of splitting the insurance payments.
The crop insurance was provided by private companies, but the companies were backed by the
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