A federal jury in Fort Worth convicted two brothers on November 10, 2026, for running a sprawling $240 million cattle investment scam that defrauded over 2,200 people across the United States.
Joshua Robert Link and Jason Allen Link operated Fort Worth-based Agridime LLC as a high-yield livestock trading platform, promising buyers that their money went directly toward acquiring, grazing, and processing beef cattle for guaranteed profits. The operation was a fiction. Evidence presented during a six-day federal trial proved the enterprise was an agrarian Ponzi scheme. The firm took money from incoming investors to pay earlier participants, subsidize bad debt, and bankroll luxury real estate.
Federal prosecutors proved Agridime pocketed more than $240 million between January 2021 and December 2023 by hawking cattle contracts at roughly $2,000 per steer or heifer. Yet the company possessed nowhere near the livestock it claimed to manage.
Livestock tallies revealed the brothers sold contracts representing roughly 60,000 more animals than the company owned or maintained in pastures.
To sustain the deception, the brothers shuffled capital through corporate shells. Investigators tracked more than $2.7 million funneled between November 2021 and January 2024 to Shady Brook Ranch LLC, an outfit owned by Jason Link. Agridime submitted duplicate claims for feed, grazing, and yardage, double-billing accounts for maintenance tasks that an outside vendor had already completed. Rather than replenishing ranches, the diverted cash funded executive commissions and personal indulgences.
The defendants used incoming payments to pay for business expenses, loans, and amounts owed to earlier investors while company money was siphoned off into personal enrichment.
U.S. Department of Justice Trial Presentation
Court exhibits detailed how the purloined capital supported extravagant personal expenditures far removed from livestock husbandry.
Bank transaction logs showed $1,498,275 transferred directly to a construction contractor to erect a five-bedroom, four-bathroom luxury barndominium in Herington, Kansas. The compound served as a private recreational retreat for the Link family. The brothers also tapped investor capital to buy a 2006 Hummer H2 for $24,838, alongside tens of thousands of dollars routed into solar power systems and residential plumbing projects.
| Trial Parameter | Case Specification |
|---|---|
| Corporate Entity | Agridime LLC (Fort Worth, Texas) |
| Scheme Scale | Over $240 million across 2,200+ investors |
| Phantom Livestock Deficit | Contracts sold for ~60,000 cattle beyond inventory |
| Diverted Funds to Shady Brook | Over $2.7 million in sham yardage and feed costs |
| Diverted Property Asset | $1,498,275 barndominium in Herington, Kansas |
| Presiding Judge | U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman |
Four corporate lieutenants pled guilty before the trial commenced. Agridime operations director Jed Wood, cattle broker Taylor Bang, and financial controller Royana Thomas each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Marketing director Tia Link admitted guilt to a felony charge of money laundering.
Then the jury delivered its verdict against the ringleaders.
Joshua Link, who served as co-owner and executive director, was found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud, and two counts of money laundering. Jason Link, the company's livestock broker and supply-chain head, was convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud, and two counts of money laundering.
U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman scheduled formal sentencing for March 4, 2027. Each count of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in federal prison, while each money laundering conviction carries a sentence of up to 10 years.
| Sentencing Date | March 4, 2027 |