USA - Kansas farmer admits defrauding USDA crop insurance

22.10.2019 462 views
A Kansas farmer has admitted to defrauding federal government crop insurance programs before lying in court documents when filing for bankruptcy. Trego County farmer Kevin W. Struss pleaded guilty Monday at a federal courthouse in Wichita to one count of federal crop insurance fraud and one count of bankruptcy fraud, court documents show. In the plea deal, prosecutors said they plan to ask the court for more than $2.1 million in restitution. That total includes more than $600,000 in insurance premium benefits, more than $1.2 million in federal crop insurance premium subsidies and more than $270,000 in administrative costs. Struss admitted in the plea agreement that in the spring of 2015 he devised a scheme to defraud the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation. The plan involved making false proof of loss statements that under-reported his total harvested bushels of corn and grain sorghum, which is also known as milo. Those crops had been insured with an FCIC subsidy. As a result of the scheme, he was paid crop insurance benefits to which he was not entitled.
Then in April 2018, Struss filed for bankruptcy. He marked that he had not transferred property to anyone in the previous two years. In fact, Struss admitted in his guilty plea, he had transferred $470,000 to someone else within the three months before he filed for bankruptcy. Though Struss is only charged with crop insurance fraud from the 2015 reports, prosecutors alleged that his scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Agriculture continued with false reports in 2016 and 2017. The criminal case was filed against the rural WaKeeney farmer earlier this month. That first year, in 2015, Struss allegedly under-reporting the yields of his corn crop by about 23,524 bushels and his grain sorghum crop by about 31,208 bushels. The alleged false reports resulted in Struss receiving about $201,000 in federal crop insurance benefits and about $511,000 in federal crop insurance premium subsidies that he was not entitled to. Prosecutors also say the scheme led the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation to pay additional administrative costs to ARMtech Insurance Services that would not have been paid if the reports were accurate. In 2016, prosecutors alleged, Struss under-reported his corn crop by about 116,194 bushels and sought more than $1.5 million in federal crop insurance indemnification payments to which he was not entitled. The claim was denied by Rural Community Insurance Services. Federal court records show that Struss sued Rural Community Insurance Services in April 2018 in relation to his 2016 corn crop. That case is in arbitration. In a separate case filed that same month, Struss sued the USDA, Risk Management Agency and Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, also in relation to his 2016 corn crop. A federal judge in Kansas City ruled in favor of the government agencies this summer. In 2017, prosecutors alleged, Struss under-reported his sorghum crop by about 35,530 bushels, causing Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company to pay him more than $108,000 in benefits to which he was not entitled. Prosecutors alleged in the bankruptcy fraud charge that Struss lied in his petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2018 because he had wired $470,000 to Kellie Acker in the previous months. A pair of online obituaries show Acker was Struss’s sister-in-law in 2015 and was his fiance in 2018.
Source - https://www.kansas.com
03.03.2026

Bangladesh - Incomplete dam work sparks fear of crop loss in Sunamganj haor areas

Farmers in the haor areas of Sunamganj are gripped by anxiety as unfinished crop protection dams threaten to submerge their Boro fields amid fears of an early influx of water originating from the upstream Indian mountainous regions.

03.03.2026

Vietnam - Aid for agricultural insurance premiums proposed to rise

Although agricultural insurance policies have been piloted since 2011, the sector remains new and high risk, creating multiple challenges in implementation.

03.03.2026

Ukraine - State compensates farmers up to 60% of crop insurance cost

The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine is launching a large-scale program to support agricultural producers. 

03.03.2026

Morocco - Flood-hit villages near Ksar el-Kebir await aid as damage assessments continue

Rural communes near the city of Ksar el-Kebir, recently declared disaster zones by the government, are seeing an intensified effort by agricultural officials to assess crop losses caused by flooding and torrential rains.

03.03.2026

Philippines - P7-M climate, disaster insurance shield rolls out for Iloilo agrarian reform beneficiaries

Thousands of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Iloilo are set to receive P7 million worth of fully subsidized crop and asset insurance as the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) in Western Visayas and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)-6 formalized a partnership aimed at fortifying farmers against climate shocks, natural disasters, and market uncertainties.

03.03.2026

Pakistan - ADB delegation visits SECP to discuss insurance reforms

A delegation from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), led by Country Director Ms. Emma Fan and including Mr. Salman Mian and Dr. Raja M. Ali Saleem, visited the SECP Head Office. 

02.03.2026

Moldova’s agriculture grew by about 14% in 2025, against the backdrop of the advancement of plant production

Last year, the agricultural production in Moldova recorded an increase of approximately 14%. 

02.03.2026

Nigeria - FG Urged to Expand NAIC Insurance Coverage for Smallholder Farmers

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Dr. Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, has urged the Federal Government to expand insurance coverage to more smallholder farmers across Nigeria.