Two Convicted in Cattle & Marijuana Ponzi Scheme

Convicted of wire fraud and running a Ponzi scheme that raised $650 million from investors across the country, a couple now face decades in prison.

A federal grand jury found Reva J. Stachniw, 70, of Galesburg, Illinois, and Ron Throgmartin, 58, of Buford, Georgia, guilty on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, five counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, they ran the Ponzi scheme from late 2017 to early 2019. Victims were fraudulently solicited to invest in the scheme with promises their money was backed by short-term investments in cattle.

Stachniw and Throgmartin also solicited investments for a Colorado-based marijuana business, Universal Herbs LLC.

In all variations of the scheme, victim-investors were promised returns of approximately 10% to 20% over periods as short as several weeks.

At no point did Stachniw or Throgmartin tell victim-investors that they were primarily using their money to repay other investors in a Ponzi-style investment scheme, or to enrich themselves, prosecutors said. Stachniw and Throgmartin allegedly received millions of dollars from the scheme, despite putting little to none of their own money into it.

The defendants will be sentenced by a federal district judge on Jan. 6, 2023. They face up to 20 years for each of the wire fraud counts and 10 years for conspiracy to commit money laundering.