LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- Federal prosecutors charged a California agricultural lender with diverting approximately $58 million from the refinancing of two farm loans and later using forged signatures, fictitious loans and unauthorized Farmer Mac financing in an alleged scheme that caused more than $64 million in losses.

Ron Cook, 58, of Fresno, was indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on seven counts of wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, six money-laundering counts and one count of making a false statement on a loan or credit application.

Prosecutors allege he carried out the scheme through Corporate America Lending, which originates loans for farmers, ranchers and other agricultural customers.

The case is significant to agricultural borrowers because prosecutors allege the scheme relied on farm-loan refinancing, borrowers' identities and Farmer Mac-backed capital to obtain and transfer millions of dollars, including loans allegedly created without a borrower's knowledge.

An indictment is only an accusation that has yet to go to trial.

After investigators discovered the $58 million transaction, the indictment said Cook continued to obtain money through other agricultural loans.

That includes $1.675 million in Farmer Mac-funded loans taken out without the customer's knowledge. Prosecutors alleged Cook then used the loan to repay an earlier investor and to make a $1 million political contribution.

The $64 million in losses include about $58.2 million in diverted refinancing proceeds, $2 million invested in an allegedly nonexistent loan, $1.675 million in allegedly unauthorized Farmer Mac loans and $2.5 million invested in another allegedly fictitious loan.

If Cook is convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison on the false-statement charge and up to 20 years on each wire-fraud and money-laundering charge, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney's office. Federal prosecutors said each aggravated identity-theft charge carries a mandatory two-year prison term consecutive to any sentence imposed on the other charges.

CHARGES FOLLOW CIVIL LITIGATION

In May 2024, Compeer Financial, ACA, filed a federal lawsuit against Corporate America Lending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

According to court documents, Cook's company received $58.1 million as repayment of two loans on April 29, 2024. Compeer Financial had purchased 100% participation interest in the loans.

Under an agreement, Corporate America Lending, led by Cook, was required to notify Compeer and remit the money when payment was received.

Instead, prosecutors allege Cook did neither.

In the week after Cook received the repayment, he allegedly transferred more than $25 million of the proceeds to other investors, according to the indictment.

The individual transfers include $10 million to a person identified as "D.M.," $12.2 million to an investor/capital provider for loans to Cook, identified in court documents only as "M.G.," as well as additional transfers of about $5 million to an "M.C." and $1 million to "J.C."

The investor identified as "M.G." allegedly supplied Cook with money for a nonexistent loan and was the recipient of $12 million of the disputed $58.1 million in refinancing proceeds.

Those transfers were made without collateral, contracts or accountability for the funds, according to court documents.

The federal court in Minnesota ruled that Cook misled Compeer into believing the loans had been paid off, according to court documents.

According to an October 2025 court order in Compeer's lawsuit, Cook fabricated the receipt of an ordinary monthly loan repayment from the borrower on May 2, 2024 -- that was several days after his company received the $58.1 million payoff.

Because Compeer said it believed Corporate America Lending was holding $58.1 million that belonged to Compeer, it initiated emergency arbitration.

According to court documents, by October 2024 only about $23 million of the original $58.1 million had been placed into a law-firm trust account. That means about $35 million had been transferred elsewhere. The federal court in Minnesota issued a receivership order in favor of Compeer to account for all the funds.

Federal prosecutors allege in the recent indictment that despite the receivership being in place, Cook violated the receivership when he opened a new bank account for his company at the Banc of California in May 2025 without the receiver's knowledge.

That account remained open for about one year, according to court documents, until the Banc of California shut it down after learning about the receivership.

After the federal indictment was entered in the federal court in California, the U.S. government filed a brief in support of keeping Cook detained until a trial. Cook was arrested on Nov. 2, 2026, according to the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of California.

In that brief, prosecutors allege Cook was a flight risk.

"In late 2024, Mr. Cook learned that there was an ongoing federal criminal investigation into him," prosecutors told the federal court.

"Thereafter, he committed additional acts for fraud, identity theft, and money laundering as alleged in the indictment."

A motion to revoke detention is set for Dec. 9, 2026, and the next set of briefs in the case are due to be filed by Nov. 30, 2026, according to court documents.

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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