Kinston Farmer Sentenced For Fraud On Commodity Credit Corporation

RALEIGH - United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that in federal court today Chief United States District Judge James C. Dever, III, has sentenced WILLIAM L. WHALEY, JR., 50, of Kinston, North Carolinato 12 months and 1 day of imprisonment followed by 3 years supervised release.  The Court did not impose a fine in recognition of the $50,000 monetary penalty previously paid by the defendant.
On February 27, 2013, a Criminal Information was filed charging WHALEY with making false statements in connection with a commodity credit corporation loan, in violation of Title, 15, United States Code, Section 714m.  On April 9, 2013, he pled guilty to the charge.
According to the investigation, WHALEY, the controlling partner of Whaley Partners, a large farming operation, entered into a commodity loan agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture for $272,986.56 using bushels of soybeans as collateral.  During the loan process, an agency employee went to WHALEY’s farm to verify the quantity and quality of the beans.  In preparation for the visit, WHALEY had a farm hand suspend a bucket of soybeans just below the opening at the top of the grain bin to give the illusion that the grain bin was in fact filled with 54,000 plus bushels of soybeans.  In reality, the bin was empty and the collateral never existed.  WHALEY then submitted false lien waivers in connection with his loan application.  The Farm Service Agency discovered the fraud  in May 2009.
The criminal investigation of this case was conducted by United States Department of Agriculture – Office of the Inspector General – Investigations.  The Farm Service Agency provided valuable assistance in the investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney Banumathi Rangarajan is handling the prosecution on behalf of the Eastern District of North Carolina.