LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A woman from England, Arkansas has pled guilty to being involved in a scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Agriculture out of more than $11.5 million dollars that were supposed to have been used to benefit farmers who had been discriminated against.
49-year-old Niki Charles pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
According to reports, she along with others admitted to having solicited people to file fake claims that stated they had been discriminated against when they tried to get help from the USDA to assist with their farming operations.
Charles verified statements from witnesses that submitted various affidavits to support the claims. Those actions taken resulted in a total of $4.5 million dollar loss, which Charles did agree to pay back.
There were also four other sisters who pleaded guilty in the case on July 6, 2022:
72-year-old Lynda Charles of Hot Springs; 74-year-old Rosie Bryant of Colleyville, Texas; 75-year-old Delois Bryant of North Little Rock; and 72-year-old Brenda Sherpell Gainesville, Texas.
Everett Martindale, a sixth defendant, worked as a lawyer and was the legal representative for most of the people that the five women had recruited. He is set to go on trial on August 30.
Reports stated that they all allegedly pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service, and to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. The sisters also allegedly admitted to having hired Jerry Green, a tax preparer to falsify some tax returns, which resulted in a failure to report over $4.6 million dollars to the IRS.
Green also pleaded guilty in January of last year.
Plea agreements stated that the defendants submitted claims to both the 'Black Farmers Discrimination Litigation' settlement as well as the 'Hispanic and Women Farmers and Ranchers' claim program.
A successful claim actually resulted in an award of $62,500.
$50,000 of that was to be made payable to the claimant and $12, 500 would be transferred as a tax withholding directly to the Internal Revenue Service.
Most of the claims made by the sisters were successful, and they were involved in a total of 192 claims which resulted in a loss of more than $11.5 million in total.
The claims were said to have been falsified because the claimants did not suffer discrimination and some had not even attempted to farm.
The indictment also alleges that the attorney, Martindale, would deposit the claim checks that were issued into his law firm trust account, then issue a check from that account to the supposed claimant, and also withhold his attorney fee.
According to the indictment, it alleged that the four sisters made a deal with Martindale that they would split the attorney fee.
The sisters also requested and received additional money from the claimants. Money received from a claim was income that was supposed to have been reported on the claimant’s tax return.
The sisters and their accountant, Green, all admitted that Green was the one who provided tax preparation services for the claimants. And that Green falsified the tax returns so they would get a tax refund.
Lynda Charles, Rosie Bryant, and Delois Bryant all filed their own false tax returns and used the money to purchase homes and vehicles. They are now required to return the vehicles and repay the fraud money that they initially used to purchase properties.
That money will be due by the time that they are sentenced.
All who pleaded guilty will be sentenced by a judge at a later date but the exact date has not been announced.