The U.S. government asked a federal judge to sentence ag reality television star and farmer Steve A. McBee to 41 months in prison, pay $4 million in restitution to the USDA and require three years of supervised release for pleading guilty to crop insurance fraud, according to a sentencing memorandum filed in a federal court.
Attorneys for the 53-year-old Gallatin, MO, farmer have asked for a period of supervised release in their memo also filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. McBee is scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 16.
McBee, who stars in the reality television series “The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys,” runs the northwest Missouri farm along with his sons Steve Jr., Brayden, Cole and Jesse. He pleaded guilty to crop insurance fraud in 2024 and could have faced up to 30 years in prison without parole for a Class B felony.
Federal prosecutors told the court McBee’s history does not warrant leniency because he chose the “easy and greedy path” despite having what the government said is a supportive family with significant assets.
“McBee knowingly submitted, or caused to be submitted, false documents to the federal crop insurance program and abused a program created to assist farmers in need,” the government said in its filing.
“His illegal conduct spanned multiple years and included different methods of deceiving the federal crop insurance program. McBee underreported the equivalent of 830 semi-truck trailers of grain—a massive amount of grain. It was all done to increase his profits in the form of insurance indemnity payments and line his own pockets with millions of dollars he did not earn at the expense of U.S. taxpayers.”
Attorneys for McBee asked the court to sustain his objection to a proposal to give him one criminal history point in sentencing guidelines for a $150 traffic infraction. According to the government’s memorandum, McBee was convicted in 2019 for consumption of alcohol while driving.
If the court sustains McBee’s objection, the court would then be able to find that he’s a “zero-point offender” and essentially lower the sentence below sentencing guidelines. Aside from the traffic violation, McBee has no criminal history, the memo said.
2018 drought effect on operation
McBee’s attorneys said their client was able to manage the physical labor demands, but the “unpredictable weather patterns, uncertain operating costs, inconsistent personnel resources and myriad difficulties inherent in farming operations, all overlaid on a sprawling farm footprint using different types of equipment and each plot presenting its own unique issues, were circumstances difficult to confront, especially for someone with no farming background.”
The 2018 drought that hit Missouri farmers hard, the memo said, made it more difficult for McBee to manage the farm, and in particular, records on crop yields and insurance claims.
“However, McBee Farms was wholly over-extended due to the size of its recently acquired acreage and broadened scope of its farming, and Steve was not running the farm operations in a way where verifiably accurate yields could be reported,” the memo said.
“Within the context of the overall drought situation, fields underproduced due to the conditions, but unreliable information formed the basis for claims. There is not an absolute correlation between grain sales to Indigo and reduced bushel yields from insured fields of McBee farming entities during the 2018 severe drought.”
McBee supplied more corn and soybeans to Indigo from production not from his farm in 2018, the memo said. So, the insurance claims were “not verifiable as accurate,” and they couldn’t be because “the farm operation did not permit accuracy. And Steve did not stop the claims.”
McBee’s attorneys said he has been working regularly on farm properties and is helping on the construction of “McBee Coffee N Car Wash” facilities.
“His sons are working to reverse the unsuccessful growth strategy, exiting leases and selling significant acreage to move away from any commercial cultivation of crops while paying down the substantial financial loans collateralized by the real property,” the memo said.
The government’s memo
The government makes the case that McBee should receive a prison sentence because of the 2019 conviction.
According to the memo, there is no legal precedent that addresses the issue of whether a conviction for consumption of alcohol while driving is worthy of one criminal history point toward McBee’s sentencing. But the government makes a case for the court to do so.
“McBee was convicted of driving his vehicle while consuming alcohol, which is a mind-altering substance,” federal prosecutors said. “Drinking while driving, even if McBee was not found to be substantially impaired, was potentially dangerous to other motorists and is more than a minor traffic infraction.”
McBee admitted he engaged in “fraudulent activity” from 2018 to 2020 that caused an economic loss to USDA. McBee is required to pay about $3.2 million to the federal government. The total loss to USDA is about $4 million, though the federal government has disputed the total loss amount.
“The defendant’s crime is an insult to hard working Missouri farmers who must meticulously follow the complex—yet necessary—crop insurance rules and regulations,” the government said.
Prosecutors said the parties in the case have discussed the possibility of McBee making payment toward restitution at sentencing. The discussions, they said, did not take place until after the government filed a notice for the forfeiture of property on Aug. 29.
“The defendant has been on bond since his change of plea hearing on Nov. 5, 2024, and McBee knew about the government’s case several months before that hearing,” the U.S. attorneys said. “The defendant has not made any payments towards restitution. Defendants in white-collar cases often argue for shorter sentences in order to better pay restitution. The sincerity of those offers should be judged by efforts made to pay restitution before sentencing.”
In all, the government is asking for the $4 million in restitution to the USDA’s Risk Management Agency and a $3.2 million in a money judgement that would represent the “defendant’s gain” from the fraud. — Todd Neeley, DTN environmental editor
