Seven Defendants Charged in $11.5 Million Fraud Case: Lawyer and Tax Preparer Helped Five Defendants

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Seven Defendants Charged in $11.5 Million Fraud Case: Lawyer and Tax Preparer Helped Five Defendants with False Discrimination Claims


LITTLE ROCK—Five individuals and an attorney have been charged with defrauding the U.S. Department of Agriculture out of over $11.5 million that was intended to benefit farmers who had been discriminated against. The indictment alleges that four sisters, one of their daughters, and a lawyer worked together to submit false claims concerning discrimination against farmers who are black, Hispanic, or female. The women also hired a tax preparer to falsify tax returns, resulting in failure to report over $4.6 million to the Internal Revenue Service.

Cody Hiland, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Dax Roberson, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, and Tamera Cantu, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, announced the indictment, which was handed down by a federal grand jury on Thursday afternoon and made public today.

The indictment alleges that from 2008 until 2017, five defendants solicited people to file false claims asserting they were discriminated against when they tried to get assistance from USDA for their farming operations. Four of the defendants—Lynda Charles, Rosie Bryant, Delois Bryant, and Brenda Sherpell—are sisters. A fifth defendant, Niki Charles, is the daughter of Lynda Charles. A sixth defendant, Everett Martindale, worked as an attorney and acted as the legal representative for most of the claimants that the five women recruited. A seventh defendant, Jerry Green, worked as a tax preparer, and the indictment alleges that he filed false tax returns for some of the claimants.

According to the indictment, claims were submitted under two programs: the Black Farmers Discrimination Litigation (BFDL) Settlement and the Hispanic and Women Farmers and Ranchers (HWFR) Litigation. The BFDL Settlement resulted from a class action lawsuit filed in 1997 in which a group of black farmers claimed they had been discriminated against when they applied for farm credit, credit servicing, or farm benefits from USDA. Similarly, the HWFR Litigation originated when groups of Hispanic and women farmers filed separate lawsuits against USDA, also alleging discrimination in their farm benefit programs.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edar/pr/seven-defendants-charged-115-million-fraud-case-lawyer-and-tax-preparer-helped-five