Christopher Claypool

Debarment was proposed because a joint investigation by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) revealed that a former general manager of JACKLIN SEED COMPANY (JACKLIN), a subsidiary of J.R. SIMPLOT COMPANY (SIMPLOT), engaged in multiple fraudulent schemes over several years, defrauding SIMPLOT and its customers. Scheme 1: Seed Substitution: From January 2015 through the summer of 2019, the Respondents directed JACKLIN employees to fulfill customer orders with cheaper varieties of grass seed than ordered, to conceal such substitutions from the customers, and to invoice the customers as though no substitutions had taken place. This scheme caused JACKLIN’s customers to overpay about $100,000 and SIMPLOT to refund over $1.1 million for mislabeled grass seed. Scheme 2: Fake Broker and Kickbacks: Respondents created a company to pose as an independent grass seed broker and routed a portion of JACKLIN’s overseas sales, adding its own mark-up and kicking back outsized commissions to you through the company. From December 2018 through August 2019, the scheme generated more than $369,000 in fraudulent commissions. Scheme 3: Inflated Travel Expenses: Respondents conspired with a travel agent to inflate the costs of international business travel charged to SIMPLOT. The agent overbilled more than $500,000, the majority of which the Respondent ultimately received in kickbacks from the agent. Scheme 4: Fake Rebates and Money Laundering: Respondents directed SIMPLOT’s payment of more than $12 million in “rebates” and “commissions” to entities that were posing as foreign sales partners but were fronts for embezzling funds. Respondents then used part of gains to invest in real estate property in Hawaii. Years later, Respondents sold the real estate and wired the proceeds to investment accounts in Spokane, WA as part of an elaborate money laundering operation. For further information contact the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agency Exclusions POC.