Williston man sentenced for fraud

Published on Friday, December 18, 2009 4:54 PM MST

Bill Mercer, U.S. attorney for the District of Montana, announced that during a federal court session in Billings Thursday before Chief U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull, Todd Horob, a 41-year-old resident of Williston, N.D., appeared for sentencing.

Horob was sentenced to a term of:

• Prison: 132 months

• Special assessment: $700

• Restitution: $6,028,731.13

• Supervised Release: Five years

Horob was sentenced after having been found guilty during a three-day trial of bank fraud, wire fraud, bankruptcy fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.

At trial, the government presented evidence that Horob defrauded Wells Fargo Bank out of more than $5 million, based on a false promises scheme where he claimed to have more than 7,000 head of cattle in 2006. In reality, Wells Fargo was only able to find 60 head of cattle.

In furtherance of his false promises scheme, Horob fabricated brand certificates that supposedly showed he had millions of dollars in cattle on hand. Local brand inspectors testified that the brand certificates were falsified, and they had no records of such large amounts of cattle belonging to Horob. Horob also showed bankers cattle that he did not own on land he did not lease – falsely representing that they were his. He also convinced several stockyard owners to lie to bankers by telling them that cattle in the yards were his when in reality they were not.

Horob also defrauded Dakota West Credit Union out of almost $1 million by obtaining a loan based on a fabricated invoice representing ownership in 1,276 cows that never existed.

Finally, Horob filed for bankruptcy on March 24, 2006. The day before filing, he transferred just over $235,000 out of his cattle hedging investor accounts and into his American State Bank account. The same day he filed bankruptcy, Horob wrote cashiers’ checks to numerous people, including himself, for over $244,000. He did not disclose his American State Bank account in his bankruptcy petitions, and only added it when Wells Fargo discovered its existence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan M. Archer prosecuted the case for the United States.

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