Kevin Ray Asbury, 44, a former Howard County man accused of an $8 million cattle fraud, was sentenced Thursday in federal district court in Jefferson City to nine years in federal prison without parole.
A Fulton bank victimized by the fraud has sued another bank in an attempt to recover some of its lost money.
Asbury pleaded guilty in federal court on June 27, 2011. After a federal presentence investigation lasting more than a year, Asbury was sentenced Thursday in Jefferson City by U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey.
Asbury was accused of operating two cattle fraud Ponzi schemes in which 28 victims, including The Callaway Bank of Fulton, were bilked of nearly $8 million. Both schemes involved his R&K Angus Ranch in Howard County from December of 2006 to October of 2008.
The Callaway Bank lost more than $2.7 million in the cattle fraud scheme operated by Asbury.
Asbury obtained a $4 million business line of credit from the bank in February of 2007. Most of that line of credit was based on cattle that Asbury did not own. Asbury admitted that he showed several thousand head of cattle to a bank representative and falsely claimed to lease the ranch. He told the bank he owned about 6,000 head of cattle worth $7 million. In reality, he did not own anywhere near that amount of cattle.