Easterday Sentencing Delayed For Third Time
The sentencing of the former owner of Easterday Farms and Easterday Ranches following his conviction for wire fraud has been delayed until June 13, a federal judge ruled.
Cody Easterday, Mesa Washington, pleaded guilty in April of last year to defrauding Tyson Foods Inc. and another company out of more than $244 million by charging them for the costs of buying and feeding as many as 200,000 cattle that did not exist. Easterday, 49, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and agreed to repay $244,031,132 in restitution.
Sentencing was originally scheduled for August 2021, but his attorneys argued that Easterday needed more time to settle his financial affairs, including completing a bankruptcy filing related to the wire fraud case. His second sentencing hearing was scheduled for January 24, but Chief Judge Stanley Bastian of the Eastern District Court of Washington granted another delay.
The latest order for delay will allow Easterday’s legal team to take more time to sort out what the judge described as “a mess” in terms of personal financial issues, Easterday’s creditors and Tyson.
The “ghost cattle” scheme began to unravel in December 2020 when Tyson announced it was correcting financial results with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its beef segment for fiscal years 2017 through 2020. Tyson’s corrections were necessary after it discovered “misappropriation of company funds” by one of its beef suppliers.
The ghost-herd scenario has led to several lawsuits and bankruptcies by Easterday Ranches Inc. and Easterday Farms. Easterday faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison but likely will see much less prison time based on federal sentencing guidelines.
