(North Dakota Monitor)
By: Jeff Beach
KILLDEER, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) – A North Dakota rancher and a partner are poised to pay about $15.7 million for a beef marketing company that became a Ponzi scheme and owes millions of dollars to investors.
Wylie Bice of Killdeer says he expects to close on the purchase of Agridime, now doing business as American Grazed Beef, in a couple of weeks. But he added that his business, Sheer Marketing LLC, already has been buying calves in North Dakota and other states to process into steaks and other cuts of beef next year.
American Grazed Beef sells beef and other products directly to consumers through its website.
A court hearing to approve the sale is Oct. 7. Objections can be made until Oct. 2, according to an update posted on the Agridime website Wednesday.
The update comes from court-appointed receiver Stephen Fahey, who has been overseeing Agridime operations since federal investigators labeled it as a Ponzi scheme.
A court recently confirmed that Agridime acted as a Ponzi scheme, raising money from new investors to pay off previous investors, eventually leading to the company’s financial collapse.
A complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission that was unsealed in December 2023 alleged that Texas-based Agridime had raised at least $191 million from more than 2,100 investors in at least 15 states.
The North Dakota Securities Commission has said North Dakota investors are owed about $40 million, more than any other state where Agridime operated.
Bice is among those who are owed money by Agridime, which promised high returns on investments in the cattle industry without having to do any of the work. There also are ranchers who delivered cattle to Agridime but were never paid.
Fahey said the $15.7 million purchase price may change as the company continues to sell frozen beef under the American Grazed Beef name.
The purchase agreement also includes the new owners giving 20% of the profits from the company over five years to the receiver to help pay off investors who are still owed money.
Bice said it may be years before they begin to collect at least some of what they are owed.
The purchase includes the company’s frozen meat supply, the company’s equipment, and land in Kansas and Illinois.
Bice said the land and some other assets will likely be sold. The company will work with feedlots in Kansas and a meat processor in Texas. It will have warehouse space in Kansas and Texas.
Bice does not expect to move any business operations to North Dakota. But he said he already has bought calves from producers in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota and other states.
“Just buying from the old customers,” Bice said, referring to ranchers that sold to Agridime.
He said an initial goal will be to build up cattle processing again so that by next year the company is processing five to six semi-loads of cattle a week, with each load holding 37 to 40 head of cattle.
He said he has been impressed with the marketing and direct sales part of the business, with sales up about 38% since the beginning of the year.
For now, he said the only partner in the business will be Randy Quarne in Texas. Bice and Quarne had previously operated a trucking business together.
Bice said there may be an opportunity for others to buy shares of the business down the road.
“We need to run it a couple of years, just to see what it will do,” Bice said.
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