Central Valley Fruit Broker Ralph Hackett Pleads Guilty and Agrees to Pay $1.25 Million to Resolve Criminal and Civil Allegations of Fraudulent Crop Insurance Claims
FRESNO, CA - A Central Valley fruit broker, Ralph Hackett, recently pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting mail fraud and agreed to pay $650,000 in criminal restitution. Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced that this is in regards to helping another individual submit a fraudulent crop insurance claim for table grapes for the crop year 2013.
In a civil settlement with the United States, Hackett also agreed to pay another $605,000 to resolve allegations of crop insurance fraud for the crop years 2012 through 2015. In total, Hackett needs to pay $1.25 million.
Hackett is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd on February 22, 2022. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, a press release from the United States Department of Justice explained. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account several variables.
According to court documents, Hackett was a former member and manager of a Central Valley fruit broker through which the other individual sold various crops, including table grapes, from the individual’s farming operation in Fresno and Tulare counties. These documents can be accessed here.
As the documents indicate, Hackett instructed one of his employees to provide altered records to the individual that underreported the amount of table grapes the individual sold through the fruit broker so the individual could submit a fraudulent crop insurance claim for the grapes for the crop year 2013.
For further details on the events in question, please continue reading here.
This case is the product of an investigation by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Inspector General and Risk Management Agency Special Investigations Staff. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Barton is prosecuting the criminal case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew R. Belz handled the civil investigation.
