{"id":71412,"date":"2026-11-04T06:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=71412"},"modified":"2026-11-04T06:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T12:00:09","slug":"cass-county-crop-insurance-case-2-farmers-indicted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/cass-county-crop-insurance-case-2-farmers-indicted\/","title":{"rendered":"Cass County Crop Insurance Case: 2 Farmers Indicted"},"content":{"rendered":"

CASS COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 Two North Dakota farmers face federal charges in an alleged crop insurance fraud scheme involving more than $619,000.<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors accuse Daniel Scott Flaten and Derek Scott Flaten of hiding actual crop production. Investigators say the farmers reported losses that their harvest records did not support.<\/p>\n

A federal grand jury indicted both men on October 8, 2026.<\/p>\n

The indictment includes one conspiracy count against both defendants. Each man also faces two additional counts of making false statements.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors Allege $619,130 in Improper Payments<\/h2>\n

According to prosecutors, the alleged conspiracy operated between January 2021 and January 2023.<\/p>\n

Investigators claim the farmers obtained approximately $619,130 in improper crop insurance payments involving three policies.<\/p>\n

The government also paid approximately $103,966 in additional subsidies connected to those policies.<\/p>\n

Between 2016 and 2025, the farmers received nearly $15 million in various agricultural payments and benefits.<\/p>\n

However, prosecutors have not alleged that the entire $15 million was obtained improperly.<\/p>\n

How the Alleged Insurance Scheme Worked<\/h2>\n

Prosecutors say Daniel Flaten reported lower corn and soybean yields than his fields actually produced.<\/p>\n

Investigators allege he sold some harvested corn under Derek Flaten’s name.<\/p>\n

Grain elevators were allegedly told the corn came from Derek Flaten’s fields.<\/p>\n

That arrangement allegedly made Daniel Flaten’s harvest appear smaller than it was.<\/p>\n

He then claimed natural conditions, including drought, caused the reported crop losses.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the additional production allegedly increased yield records associated with Derek Flaten or other family members.<\/p>\n

Those records can affect future insurance coverage under federal crop insurance programs.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a>
Two North Dakota farmers face federal charges in an alleged crop insurance fraud scheme involving more than $619,000.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Harvest Equipment Revealed Different Yields<\/h2>\n

Federal investigators also examined data collected by precision-farming equipment during harvest.<\/p>\n

For 2021 corn in Cass County, Daniel Flaten reportedly certified yields between 67 and 90 bushels per acre.<\/p>\n

However, equipment records allegedly showed yields ranging from 116 to 144 bushels per acre.<\/p>\n

Similar differences appeared in records from the 2022 harvest.<\/p>\n

That year, reported yields ranged from 72 to 115 bushels per acre. Equipment records allegedly showed 120 to 171 bushels per acre.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say insurers accepted the reported figures despite questions from adjusters.<\/p>\n

Federal Charges and Possible Forfeiture<\/h2>\n

Daniel Flaten faces two false-statement charges involving dry beans and soybeans reported damaged in November 2021.<\/p>\n

Derek Flaten faces two false-statement charges involving soybean claims submitted in February 2022 and February 2024.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors also allege Daniel Flaten incorrectly reported planting dates for his 2022 corn crop.<\/p>\n

The government is seeking forfeiture of proceeds allegedly connected to the offenses.<\/p>\n

The indictment identifies farming operations in Cass, Grand Forks, Traill, and Steele counties.<\/p>\n

The allegations have not been proven in court.<\/strong> Both defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.<\/p>\n

Additional Information<\/h2>\n

More information about the allegations is available through DTN’s reporting on the federal indictment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Information about production records and crop insurance requirements is available through the USDA Risk Management Agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Federal court records may be accessed through PACER<\/a>. The reported case number is 3:26-cr-00168-PDW.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two North Dakota farmers face federal charges after prosecutors allege they hid harvest yields to obtain $619,130 in improper crop insurance payments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"","timeOption":"","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":""},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[756,30970],"trf_mt_town":[],"trf_mt_county":[],"trf_mt_topic":[29493],"trf_mt_series":[],"class_list":["post-71412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-cass-county","tag-daniel-scott-flaten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71412"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71662,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71412\/revisions\/71662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71412"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_town","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_town?post=71412"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_county","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_county?post=71412"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_topic?post=71412"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_series?post=71412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}