Iowa Farmer Sentenced to Prison Time

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- A northeastern Iowa farmer is serving more than 15 years in prison and was ordered to pay $5.7 million in restitution after pleading guilty to theft of livestock, wire fraud and filing a false bankruptcy declaration.

In a plea agreement reached by Clayton County, Iowa, custom-cattle farm operator Michael Butikofer admitted to operating Fawn Hollow, although neither he nor the operation was registered with the USDA under the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921.

According to court documents, between July 2020 and February 2022 Butikofer converted more than $2.5 million in proceeds from the cattle sales of livestock owned by six investors. He convinced the investors to allow him to sell their cattle in his name.

When he sold the cattle to a Wisconsin slaughterhouse, Butikofer falsely represented to the slaughterhouse that he had "good and merchantable title" to the cattle when he did not actually own the cattle.

As part of the sentencing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern Iowa, 14 other counts were dismissed by the judge.

In June 2025, the court approved the distribution of funds to various victims identified by the court. The Wendle Cattle Company, Inc., received $1.4 million; the U.S. government, $600,000; and Peoples State Bank, $192,628.

According to information from the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Iowa, while he was on pretrial release from April to November in 2023, Butikofer recruited and caused another person in the Fawn Hollow organization to recruit H-2A workers to the U.S. under "false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises."

That included misrepresenting the housing conditions provided to the employees, the location of the employees' work, the terms and timing of reimbursement for the employees' work and expenses and payment for injuries sustained during employment.

"For example, Butikofer convinced an H2-A worker from South Africa to come to the United States and bring his wife and teenaged daughter with him," according to a news release from the U.S. attorney.

"When the family arrived, however, Butikofer moved the family to live in a camper without water, electricity, or heat."

Agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security rescued the family and paid for their food and shelter at a hotel in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, according to the U.S. attorney.

Agents later rescued other workers bound for Fawn Hollow in April 2024.

"While Butikofer's criminal case was pending, he repeatedly contacted witnesses in violation of a court order," the U.S. attorney said.

"Butikofer also attempted to convince grand jury and trial witnesses to make false statements and sign false documents in attempts to obstruct justice.

At the sentencing, District Judge C.J. Williams said Butikofer was operating a "Ponzi" scheme with investor cattle.

Butikofer was also ordered to forfeit $500,000 and repay $5,000 in attorney fees.

The judge ordered Butikofer to serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term.

As part of his plea agreement, Butikofer promised to pay the H-2A workers' entire $247,000 judgment and to voluntarily terminate and cease participation in foreign labor programs.

COVID-19 FUNDS FRAUD

Between July and August 2020, Butikofer defrauded USDA of more than $200,000 in emergency assistance funds designed to assist livestock producers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Specifically, applications were submitted in the name of an unnamed employee at Fawn Hollow and entitled "Coronavirus Food Assistance Program" (CFAP) payments.

A cattle producer qualified for CFAP payments on a per-head basis, based on the producer's owned inventory of eligible beef cattle on a date selected by the producer between certain dates in 2020.

It was part of Butikofer's wire fraud scheme that the CFAP applications falsely stated an employee owned the cattle.

Butikofer received more than $1.5 million from the Small Business Administration as part of an application for an economic injury disaster loan in February 2022.

BANKRUPTCY STATEMENT

In March 2022, Butikofer submitted a false and fraudulent statement of financial affairs in his bankruptcy case, according to court documents.

In April 2022, the U.S. attorney's office said the farmer falsely testified under oath at a meeting of creditors and, in November 2022, "repeatedly committed perjury" before the bankruptcy court when asked questions about the ownership of his cattle operation.

From April to November 2023, according to the U.S. attorney, while on federal pretrial release, Butikofer recruited and caused an employee to recruit H-2A workers to the U.S. under "false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises."

Under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, temporary, nonimmigrant workers, known as H-2A workers, perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature.

In 2020, a federal district court entered a default judgment against Butikofer and in favor of H-2A workers from the Republic of South Africa for civil violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Trafficking Victims Protective Reauthorization Act in 2018.

Read more on DTN:

"Farmer Faces 30 Years for Fraud, Theft," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

"Iowa Farmer Awaiting Sentence is Fined," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

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

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