A North-Iowa man, Michael Recker, age 47, from Arlington, Iowa, has pled guilty to two fraudulent schemes, one involving the fabrication of fictitious grain elevator tickets, and another involving lying to the bankruptcy court about proceeds from the sale of a combine. He also admitted impeding the Internal Revenue laws.
Recker was convicted of one count of conspiring to fabricate false grain elevator scale tickets, one count of bankruptcy fraud, and one count of interfering with Internal Revenue laws. The guilty plea was entered in federal court in Cedar Rapids, and the details of the crimes were laid out in a written plea agreement.
According to the plea agreement, Recker admitted that in 2008 and 2009, he bribed an employee of a Northern Iowa grain elevator to create false and fictitious grain elevator scale tickets. During the conspiracy, the employee fabricated eight false grain elevator tickets, accepting thousands of dollars in bribes from Recker in exchange. The grain elevator paid Recker more than $20,000 based on the false grain elevator tickets.
Recker also admitted that he had sold a combine at auction for approximately $50,000.00 prior to filing for bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Iowa. In bankruptcy documents, Recker did not disclose the proceeds still owed to him by the auction company, and when questioned about the proceeds, Recker lied to the court, claiming he never owned the combine or had an interest in its proceeds.
Furthermore, Recker admitted that he tried to obstruct or impede the administration of the Internal Revenue laws by trying to hide and conceal his taxable income. He did this by having the checks from the grain elevator fraud made payable to his then-girlfriend and passing them, and the bribes, through a bank account established in her name.
Sentencing for Recker will be set after a presentence report is prepared. He remains free on bond pending sentencing. Recker faces a possible maximum sentence of thirteen years’ imprisonment, a $750,000 fine, $300 in special assessments, and seven years of supervised release following any imprisonment. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney C.J. Williams and was investigated by the United States Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 12-cr-2027-LRR. The guilty plea is a significant development in the case, and it will be interesting to see how the sentencing plays out. The case highlights the importance of honesty and transparency in financial dealings, and the consequences of attempting to cheat the system.
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Key Facts
- State: Iowa
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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