Former Express Grain CEO Sentenced

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- The former CEO of Greenwood, Mississippi-based Express Grain has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to immediately pay $69.8 million in restitution after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud while working for the company.

John R. Coleman was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern Mississippi on Jan. 30, 2025.

As part of the judgement, the court released a list of 152 farmers and institutions to whom Coleman is ordered to pay restitution. After serving the prison sentence that begins on March 31, Coleman will be on supervised release for five years, according to court documents.

Coleman was arrested in December 2022 after a grand jury issued a six-count indictment on wire fraud charges that came in connection with Express Grain's Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

In a plea agreement signed by Coleman, he admitted that he "did devise and intend to devise a scheme to defraud farmers, UMB Bank and the Mississippi State Board of Agriculture and to obtain money by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises and for the purpose of executing and attempting to execute part of the scheme to defraud, knowingly caused to be transmitted by means of wire communication in interstate commerce."

The court ruled last week that Coleman has the "ability to pay" the restitution and ordered it to be made in a lump sum due immediately.

The 10 largest farms, banks and other businesses to receive restitution include: UMB Bank, $28.5 million; Ashley Selman Farms, $2.6 million; Porter Planting Company, $2.3 million; Osborn Farms, $2.2 million; Buck Harris Planting Company, $2.15 million; Macquarie Bank, $1.87 million; Dodson Planting Company, $1.6 million; Ronnie Moss Farms, $1.2 million; William Dunn Farms II, $922,777; Killebrew Cotton Company, $880,042.

The federal indictment stated that from June 2018 to October 2022, Coleman schemed to "obtain money by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises. John R. Coleman intentionally misled farmers, lenders and the Mississippi State Board of Agriculture to induce them to deliver grain to Express Grain, lend money to Express Grain and provide Express Grain with warehouse licenses despite Coleman's direct knowledge that Express Grain was in severe financial distress."

According to the indictment, beginning in 2018, Coleman made "material changes" to his company's audited financial statements for 2017, including removing the "emphasis of matter regarding a going concern" paragraph.

On or about June 7, 2018, Coleman allegedly emailed the altered financial statements to the Mississippi Board of Agriculture "claiming that they were the legitimate financial statements" of the company.

The federal indictment alleges Coleman made the same changes to Express Grain's financials in 2018, 2019 and 2020. He then emailed those statements to the state to renew his grain warehouse license.

On or about Sept. 4, 2021, Coleman allegedly emailed fraudulent financial statements to UMB Bank, a Kansas City, Missouri-based bank.

On Sept. 22, 2021, UMB Bank requested a warehouse receipt report showing the amount of grain held by the company that "had been pledged as collateral to UMB Bank," as well as the amount of grain pledged or sold to third parties.

In one instance, Coleman claimed 100,000 bushels had been sold to FC Stone in a purchase and sale agreement. The indictment said 2.78 million bushels had been sold to FC Stone, a difference of $30 million.

UMB Bank issued a notice of default to Express Grain demanding the immediate payment of about $70.7 million.

Express Grain filed for bankruptcy Sept. 29, 2021, according to court records.

In February 2022, UMB Bank purchased Express Grain at an auction for $25 million, according to court records. UMB bought three storage warehouses and a soybean-processing plant. The purchase reduced the company's debt to the bank to $45 million.

Read more on DTN:

"Former CEO Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

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

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