3 Bacon County farmers to pay federal crop insurance program $675,000 in false claims settlement

June 14--A Bacon County farmer and his two sons-in-law have agreed to pay the federal government $675,000 to settle a suit accusing them of making false crop insurance claims.

The largest portion of the pay back, will come from Julian Rigby who will pay $350,000 personally and through his business, Alma Brightleaf Blueberry Farms Inc. His son-in-law Jasper Allen will pay $300,000 and his son-in-law Benjamin Swain will pay $25,000 to settle of their roles in hiding Rigby's role in farms they claimed to operate and in collecting crop insurance for him.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said it is the first recovery in the Southern District of Georgia under the federal False Claims Act of payments through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's crop insurance program.

In its complaint, the federal government asserted that the three men ran a scheme in which Allen and Swain submitted claims for losses under the federal crop insurance program. Under the regulations governing the program, only landlords, owner-operators or tenants are eligible for crop insurance coverage.

During the crop years from 2008 through 2010, the two men made claims in which they claimed 100 percent of the losses.

The complaint asserts the two men actually had no financial risk because Rigby paid them salaries while he provided the land and equipment, paid all the workers, provided a barn to cure tobacco, financed all purchases and made all the decisions.

The complaint notes that in 2008, 2009 and 2010, farm expenses of more than $1 million were billed to Rigby or to Alma Bright Leaf.

The complaint says the reason Swain and Allen were falsely held out as the farmers was to collect more money. Between 1995 and 2008, Rigby filed numerous claims and collected more than $2.9 million in crop insurance payments. Because of that high volume of claims, Rigby's eligibility was lower than that of Swain and Allen who were given new producer status, the complaint says.

Under the scenario laid out in the complaint, nothing in Rigby's farming operation changed except the substituting of Allen's and Swain's names for his.

It also said Rigby obtained "paper," or false bills of sale, from a tobacco buyer to justify the claims that Swain and Allen submitted.

"The bills of sale were fabricated," the complaint says, "to whatever poundage Rigby told [the buyer} he needed," the complaint said.

As a result of the scheme, the federal crop insurance program issued checks ranging from $74,121 to $262,105 to Swain and Allen who passed the money along to Rigby, the complaint said.

The three men were also accused of failing to return some overpayment from the insurance program.

Under the terms of the settlement, Rigby must pay $25,000 and his company $125,000 in seven days. He also agreed to repay the crop insurance program $40,000 a year for the next five years.

Terry Dickson: (912) 264-0405

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