McBee Fraud Sentencing Moved to Oct.

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- The sentencing of ag reality television star Steve A. McBee was moved back one month by a federal court as federal authorities continue to work to recover from McBee about $3.2 million in losses through crop insurance fraud.

Without explanation, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri on Aug. 21 moved the sentencing from Sept. 9 to Oct. 16. In a brief order handed down by the court, both sides are required to submit sentencing memorandums by Oct. 6.

In addition, U.S. attorneys filed a notice and bill of particulars for the forfeiture of property with the court on Aug. 29, requiring McBee to forfeit three wrist watches. According to DTN's research, the watches may be valued at anywhere from $23,700 to more than $1 million.

The property includes a Tag Heuer Formula 1 watch, a Tag Heuer Grand Carrera watch and a Rolex Daytona watch.

The federal government is seeking the forfeiture of all property derived from proceeds traceable to the crop insurance fraud committed by McBee, who reached a plea agreement in the case.

McBee, the owner of McBee Farming Operations and the star of 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.

McBee pleaded guilty to crop insurance fraud at the end of 2024 and could face up to 30 years in prison without a chance of parole, due to the offense being a Class B felony.

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.

McBee admitted to filing a false report to Rain and Hail, a company reinsured by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, the U.S. attorney said in November 2024.

McBee submitted fraudulent documents to Rain and Hail that underreported his total 2018 corn crop by 674,812 bushels and underreported his total 2018 soybean crop by 155,833 bushels.

As a result of the false reports, McBee received about $2.6 million in insurance benefits that he was not entitled to, as well as about $553,000 in federal crop insurance premium subsidies.

"McBee admitted that his farming operation sold more than 1.2 million bushels of corn and nearly 416,000 bushels of soybeans to another party in 2018," the U.S. attorney's office said.

However, McBee's crop insurance records show his farming operations produced just 340,476 bushels of corn and 190,171 bushels of soybeans, according to court records.

In addition, McBee admitted he committed additional fraud in 2019 and 2020.

At that time, according to court records, McBee provided false information to Rain and Hail to obtain insurance for the McBee farming operation's 2019 soybean crop by misrepresenting that soybeans were the first crop in certain fields when wheat had already been harvested from those fields.

The crop insurance policy only allowed insurance coverage on the first crop planted on a piece of land during a given crop year. As a result of the double crop during the 2019 crop year, McBee was paid federal crop insurance benefits that he was not entitled to receive.

McBee also provided false information when he obtained crop insurance through NAU Country Insurance in 2020, according to court documents.

McBee's farming operation planted corn after the last planting date in 2020, which made the crop ineligible for insurance.

Read more on DTN:

"McBee Sentence Hinges on Loss Amounts," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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