Federal Indictment Accuses ND Farmer Of Crop Insurance Scheme

Bismarck Tribune (ND)

Mar. 2—A federal grand jury has indicted a Washburn-area farmer on a charge of federal crop insurance fraud.

Kent Pfaff, 58, is to make his initial appearance Thursday in U.S. District Court in Bismarck.

The Feb. 2 indictment states that between December 2019 and June 2020, Pfaff provided false crop insurance claim information to insurance companies and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency/Federal Crop Insurance Corp. to increase his payments.

Pfaff is accused in court documents filed by U.S. Attorney Nick Chase of a fraud scheme known as shifting production. Under the scheme, a person will overstate production in some fields and understate production in others "to manufacture or inflate claims to which they are not entitled," the document states. The indictment doesn't list a dollar amount involved in the alleged scheme.

The charge against Pfaff is a felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine, and five years on supervised release.

Pfaff's attorney, Gary Leistico, of St. Cloud, Minnesota, did not immediately respond to a Tribune request for comment.

Reach Travis Svihovec at 701-250-8260 or [email protected]