McBee Dynasty star faces prison for $4M crop insurance fraud scheme
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Steve McBee Sr. is set to begin a two-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme involving crop insurance.
In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, the 52-year-old reality star shared how she reacted when she learned she was going to prison, saying “it was a sobering moment.”
He explained that when he first heard about the investigation he “wasn’t really too concerned” because as a business owner for over 33 years he had “been through every audit under the sun”. He thought that this was just like other inspections and that once he received the necessary information, “it would go away like the others.”
However, after a meeting with his lawyer, he realized that this time was different.
Steve McBee Sr. said he initially had no interest in the investigation that led to his two-year prison sentence. (Paul Andrews/PEACOCK via Getty Images)
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“I went there and the government kind of gave us BAFO – the best and final offer,” he said. “We have 48 hours. He said it was their bullying technique, sort of a poker game. And then, basically, what they said was, OK, you can plead guilty as an individual, and just to be clear, you can plead guilty to a charge of making fraudulent returns to crop insurance. If you don’t do that as an individual, Steve A. McBee, we’re going to charge one of my teammates, one of my co-workers, with 27 counts of federal charges. An indictment will be filed within 48 hours.”
He described his actions as a “bullying technique” and said both he and his teammates “had nothing to do with it”. He said, “When I looked at them charging some of my fellow co-workers,” he couldn’t let them take the blame, adding that as the owner of the company, “I made the decision the buck stops with me,” so he took the responsibility.
WATCH: STEVE MCBEE SR. I THINK THE INVESTIGATION WAS JUST ANOTHER INSPECTION BEFORE HE WAS SENTENCED TO JAIL FOR PRODUCT INSURANCE FRAUD.
McBee was sentenced to two years in the Federal Prison Camp in Yankton, South Dakota, and at his sentencing hearing on October 16, he was ordered to serve two additional years of supervised release after completing his prison sentence and will have to pay $4,022,124 in restitution to the USDA Risk Management Agency.
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He had faced up to 30 years in federal prison before his sentencing.
McBee makes it clear that the money was not lost. (Emerson Miller/PEACOCK via Getty Images)
“I want to make it clear with absolute clarity that people understand that no money is missing,” he said. “When you plant 923 different fields in 10,000 acres across three states in 2020, of which we cultivate 44,000 acres, they do post-plant inspection, pre-harvest and post-harvest inspection. They know what grain we have. They’ve been in every field.”
“They half found the wrong planting date. We were there on May 20. We planted half the field. We did not return to a period like June 19.” “And they actually said, your entire crop insurance is null and void because of the half-wrong plant date. So, I don’t think that can be true. It’s a daily occurrence.”
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McBee described the case against him as a “reward prosecution”, explaining that the business was greatly affected by the two-year prison sentence and lost more than $20 million in loans. “I had to pay for it all, I had to sell some land. So it goes on and on,” he said.
WATCH: STEVE MCBEE SR. HE SAID ‘HE LOST 20 MILLION DOLLARS IN CREDITS’ SINCE HE WAS PUNISHED’
McBee said that in addition to the monetary loss, his reputation had also been “destroyed” as people now thought he earned all his money by defrauding the government and not by “working seven days a week for 33 years”.
McBee says he has lost money and reputation since his prison sentence. (Paul Andrews/PEACOCK via Getty Images)
“We couldn’t make money from farming. We even went bankrupt some years and it’s very difficult to make money from farming, I love challenges and I love farming. I think it’s in my DNA,” he said. “Literally 75 people lost their jobs. We’ve downsized significantly, and I still have 300 employees at my other businesses. That’s caused problems at my other businesses, everywhere. Wherever you do banking, because when they charge you with a felony, as you know from personal guarantees, the banks get involved.”
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But when it comes to her family, the reality star said they’ve “never been this close.” He added that he knew he was “raising four lions, not four sheep” and that he wasn’t worried about his sons, as they had a strong work ethic.
Despite everything he’s been through, McBee maintains that he “will never let anyone make me a victim” and that when his sentence is over, he will “come out stronger than ever and ready to go.”
WATCH: STEVE MCBEE SR. HE SHARED HOW HE PREPARED FOR PRISON
“Steve McBee holds the door open for young and old. My kids always say, ‘Dad, don’t pick up hitchhikers.’ I stop on the side of the highway and change tires. That’s Steve McBee. I know who I am,” he said. “I’m not stabbing someone with a gas pump after being arrested 100 times and released onto the streets. But I’m the one going to jail. Life isn’t fair sometimes for no reason. I’ve told the kids that and I’ll be encouraged, but I want my story to be heard because other farmers need to know they can pick you up whenever they want.”
McBee says his sons are ready to take over the business while he is in prison. (Emerson Miller/PEACOCK via Getty Images)
As for preparing for prison, McBee said he’s “trying to align everything with work” for his sons and their managers.
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He tries to look on the bright side of the situation, saying this is an opportunity for his managers to “step up and prove they can do it.”
WATCH: STEVE MCBEE SR.’S JOURNEY TO PRISON WILL BE FEATURED IN ‘MCBEE DYNASTY: REAL AMERICAN COWBOYS’
“People don’t call me and say, ‘Hey, Steve, I just wanted to tell you everything was great today,’ they call me with the crisis,” he said. “‘Hey, this and that happened, how do you want to deal with it?’ “They’re going to have the opportunity to make those decisions now, so I think they’re nervous, but they’ll be fine, so I’ve tried to prepare everything.”
Before he goes to prison, he’ll also take time to celebrate all the holidays and birthdays he’ll miss while he’s away.
Cameras will follow the family as McBee surrenders. (Paul Andrews/PEACOCK via Getty Images)
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The entire process will be featured on the next season of “McBee Dynasty: The Real American Cowboys,” and McBee said his family always wanted to be “transparent” with their viewers.
“The one thing we said when we were making the show with Bravo and NBC Universal was that we wanted to keep it real,” he said. “We think there’s too much of the shows and the drama and stuff that they try to create, so we want to be very transparent and open in our lives considering that people can read the BS and know what’s real and what’s not. And so yeah, we’re going to let them.”
“It was a family decision,” he added. “They asked if they could film it and were very respectful. So we talked about it collectively, as a group, and decided that it would happen no matter what. It’s part of our lives.”
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