United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

MOORE FARMS PAYS $900,000.00 TO U.S. IN CIVIL SETTLEMENT

United States Attorney Richard B. Roper announced that William Jesse Moore and Bobby Elbridge Moore, of Crowell, Texas, the general partners/joint venturers of Moore Farms, paid $900,000.00 to the U.S. government this week to settle a civil lawsuit the U.S. filed in August 2004 under the False Claims Act alleging the defendants filed false insurance claims for the 1998 crop year.

This settlement is the result of joint civil and criminal investigations by the United States Attorneys Office, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General; the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Risk Management Agency; and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency in Vernon, Texas into crop insurance fraud in Wilbarger and Foard counties. The United States convicted Wendell Mints in February 2004 on 25 counts of an indictment that charged him with operating an elaborate scheme in which he “worked the system” to falsify crop insurance loss documents and collected insurance money for thousands of acres of cotton and wheat sorghum fields he did not plant ---- defrauding the government of nearly $500,000.00. Mints was also ordered to pay restitution. Moore Farms was one of Wendell Mints Insurance Agency’s larger clients.

The case was investigated and litigated by the Affirmative Civil Enforcement (“ACE”) Unit of the United States Attorneys Office. ACE prosecutes civil actions to recover damages for fraud and other offenses against the United States and its agencies, imposes civil penalties for violations of the nation's health, safety, economic welfare, and national defense. The ACE unit in the Northen District of Texas recovered over $7,645,370.00 in 2004 and over $212,398,195.00 since its formation in 1995. Damages recovered by the ACE Unit are returned to the United States Treasury and the affected agency. Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Zandi is the ACE Coordinator for the Northern District of Texas. This case was handled by AUSA Donna Webb, Shane Read, and Matthew Zandi.

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