Des Moines, IA- A Sigourney man was sentenced Saturday, November 18th, to 33 months in prison for committing fraud by selling grain as organic.
48-year-old Mark Haines pleaded guilty in April 2023, to mail fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States. According to court documents, Haines committed fraud by selling grain as organic, which was in fact grown in violation of the USDA’s National Organic Program.
The NOP is a federal regulatory program governing organic agricultural products.
Haines concealed his NOP violations from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, the organic certifier, and sold the grain to a number of purchasers at a total sale price of over $6.5 million.
According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa, Haines also conspired to impede and obstruct the IRS.
Between April 2017 and April 2019, Haines obtained false invoices, backdated checks, and exchanged checks to give the appearance of an expense that was not incurred. In total, Haines concealed over $1.3 million in income.
Following his prison term, Haines was ordered to serve two years of supervised release.
