Five Federally Indicted for Alleged $220 Million Nationwide Cattle Fraud Scheme; One is Fugitive on FBI Wanted List

Five individuals were federally indicted this week for their roles in an alleged $220 million nationwide fraud scheme involving purported cattle purchase contracts, announced United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould. Those indicted by a Fort Worth federal grand jury on February 11, 2026, were: Jed Wood of Fort Worth, Texas, charged with three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of money laundering involving wiring more than $63,000 to a lender for “Home Payoff” Joshua Link of Strafford, Missouri, charged with ten counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and two counts of money laundering, including wiring more than $527,000 to purchase real property Tia Link of Smithton, Missouri, charged with three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of money laundering, including wiring more than $527,000 to purchase real property Taylor Bang of Kildeer, North Dakota, charged with eight counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of money laundering Royana Thomas of Arlington, Texas, charged with six counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of money laundering “Thousands of unwitting investors, ranchers, and others in the cattle industry nationwide were drawn in and victimized by the defendants’ multi-million dollar scheme alleged in this indictment,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. “My office, in concert with our law enforcement partners, will hold these defendants accountable and pursue justice on behalf of the victims.” “The defendants allegedly used false promises to lure prospective clients into their scheme and then misappropriated client funds to enrich themselves. One individual, Joshua Robert Link, remains a fugitive. We are asking the public to contact the FBI if they have any information regarding Link’s location,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock. As alleged in the indictment, each of the defendants were associated with Agridime LLC, a business headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas that offered cattle sales and meat processing and retail services to the public. Jed Wood served as the Operations Director. Joshua Link served as the Executive Director. Tia Link served as the Marketing Director. Taylor Bang served as a cattle broker, and Royana Thomas served as the financial controller. The indictment alleges that, from January 2021 through December 2023, the five defendants, acting through Agridime, perpetrated a fraud scheme in which they falsely represented to individual cattle purchasers, cattle ranchers, and feedlots that Agridime would use their funds to purchase specific individual cattle for each victim, raise the cattle, and eventually sell the meat from the same specific individual cattle for a profit. In reality, as the indictment charges, the defendants did not use victim funds as promised and instead used newer cattle purchaser funds to pay Agridime operating expenses, pay funds owed by Agridime to earlier cattle purchasers, pay personal expenses, and purchase real property. As alleged, the defendants fraudulently collected more than $220 million from over 2,200 individual victims located throughout the United States due to fraudulent misrepresentations the defendants made in public and private advertising statements. If convicted, the defendants face up to twenty years in federal prison on each wire fraud count for which they were indicted as well as twenty years’ imprisonment for the charged wire fraud conspiracy. Additionally, the defendants face up to ten years’ imprisonment for each money laundering count in which they are charged. Tia Link and Taylor Bang appeared for arraignment before a United States Magistrate Judge in Fort Worth today. Both were released under pretrial supervision. Jed Wood and Royana Thomas are set to appear for arraignment in Fort Worth before a United States Magistrate Judge on February 25, 2026. Joshua Robert Link remains a fugitive. The FBI requests that the public contact the FBI with any information regarding Link’s location. https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wcc/joshua-robert-link fbi_wanted_-_fugitive_-_joshua_link.pdf