Agridime Defendant Bang Pleads Guilty

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- One of five Agridime LLC employees allegedly involved in a $200 million national cattle fraud scheme pleaded guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, while a second defendant has lost his bid for a separate trial.

Kildeer, North Dakota, resident Taylor Orris Bang faces a possible sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine after accepting a plea agreement, according to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Bang was one of five people associated with Agridime who were indicted by a federal grand jury in Fort Worth, Texas, on charges that they 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 and sell the meat for a profit.

Instead, the indictment said the defendants 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.

Bang also agreed to forfeit at least $2 million in cash instead of forfeiting a property he owns in Arizona, according to the agreement. What's more, Bang will not be required to testify against the other four defendants in the case set for trial beginning on Nov. 2, 2026.

Bang was the owner and operator of Taylor Bang Cattle Sales, LLC. From January 2021 through December 2023, according to court documents, Bang served as a cattle broker for Agridime and recruited sub-brokers to work for Agridime.

"The object of the conspiracy and scheme and artifice to defraud, as to defendant Taylor Bang, was to obtain money and property from an individual cattle purchaser by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses and representations and by concealment of material facts, and thereby to enrich the conspirators," according to a factual resume filed in the federal court.

In addition to Bang, also indicted were Jed Wood of Fort Worth; Joshua Link of Strafford, Missouri; Tia Link of Smithton, Missouri; and Royana Thomas of Arlington, Texas.

Around October 2023 to December 2023, according to the filing, Bang, along with Joshua Link and Royana Thomas, "combined to solicit and execute an Agridime cattle contract with Individual M, an Arizona resident, in violation of the relevant ACC (Arizona Corporation Commission) cease and desist order."

That action, according to court documents, led to the Arizona resident sending a $240,000 payment to an account controlled by Bang, rather than an Agridime account.

"Defendant Taylor Bang knew that Individual M was not told and would not learn from the cattle contract or from Agridime's business records, that Agridime was subject to the ACC cease and desist order," according to the factual resume, "that the order prohibited the transaction she was entering into, or that her name had been omitted from the contract and her payment routed to defendant Taylor Bang's personal account in order to conceal those facts."

After the indictment was handed down in February 2026, Joshua Link did not immediately turn himself in but was captured by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in March 2026.

The federal court this week denied a motion by Joshua Link for a separate trial. He was charged with 10 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.

U.S. attorneys argued that Joshua Link should be tried with the remaining three defendants because the schemes were connected. Link made the argument that a joint trial would unfairly prejudice him, according to court documents.

Read more on DTN:

"Agridime Fraud: 5 Face Fed Charges," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

"Agridime's Joshua Link Captured at LAX," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

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

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