Sentencing and Future Legal Outlook

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When we first dropped this episode, we were looking into the initial chaos of the McBee family and the federal crop insurance fraud case that led to Steve McB's guilty plea and his sentencing that we saw in the first episode of this So as a reminder, Steve McB Sr. pled guilty to one count of federal crop insurance fraud. Steve McB Sr. was sentenced to twenty four months in federal prison following his guilty plea. and then he has supervised release for two years following prison, which is actually a big deal. Supervised release is not a minor thing. I mean, we watched Steve McBee Sr on the first season of the show I think supervised release is going to go well unless he changes significantly and he definitely shouldn't be dating Masha. That's just not going to go well. So following his two year prison sentence, Steve McB Sr. is subject to two years of federal supervised release. The specific terms are determined by the court and his assigned US probation officer, but federal supervised release for financial crimes, particularly those involving large scale restitution, like in this case It typically includes a standard set of rigorous conditions. Based on federal sentencing practices and the nature of his conviction for crop insurance fraud, he will likely be required to adhere to a court ordered payment schedule. His probation officer will monitor his income and assets to ensure that these payments are prioritized, and he will likely be required to provide the probation office f f access to all of his financial records, including tax returns, bank statements, and business ledgers, and he may be prohibited from opening new lines of credit or incurring additional debt without prior approval. I don't think he's going to be able to be taking out loans or buying blonde Russian ladies range rovers anymore. so that's going to be a change for him. And then because the government is currently litigating previous asset transfers, which I'm going to talk about in this intro, his supervision will likely involve strict scrutiny of any future transfers of property, business interests or significant assets. Then there's the standard reporting with his probation officer. He's got to maintain regular contact with his probation officer, which often includes scheduled office visits, and sometimes there's unannounced home and workplace visits be restricted to the judicial district where he resides unless he receives explicit permission from his probation officer to travel elsewhere. He's going to have to get permission to make those Nashville trips. and then he will be expected to maintain legitimate, verifiable employment, and he must notify his officer of any changes in his employment status. He will also have to follow general legal compliance During that supervised release, he's going to have to notify his probation officer within seventy two hours of being arrested or questioned by any law enforcement officer, and there can be no new criminal activity. This is a standard condition. Any new criminal activity or violation of the terms of release could lead to the revocation of his supervised release and additional prison time. And he's also going to be prohibited from associating with known felons or individuals engaged in criminal activity, which is also a common requirement in federal cases Judges often impose the special conditions tailored to the specific nature of the crime. and given Steve McB Sr.'s history of crop insurance fraud, these could include a prohibition on farm program participation. The court might explicitly bar him from participating in or applying for federal agricultural subsidies or insurance programs for a specific period, and federal courts sometimes include provisions for the defendant to submit to polygraph exams if the government suspects that If someomeone's concealing assets or failing to disclose financial information. I honestly don't know how common that is now. but Cessie and I also have a really cool episode on the history of polygraph exams. So if you're interested in those, go back and listen to that episode. But because the federal government is currently pursuing a separate civil lawsuit against him and his sons regarding asset transfers, his probation officer will likely be just highly focused on his compliance with financial disclosures to ensure that no further assets are hidden or moved to circumvent the four million restitution judgment. His restitution is four million, which is directly payable to the USAA risk management agency. That's the insurance that he pled guilty to defrauding. And then he has an additional penalty of three point two millionars in a money judgment representing the specific gain that he received from the fraud He pled guilty to one count of federal crop insurance fraud, and this offense is a class B felony that could theoretically have carried a maximum penalty of up to thirty years in prison. But actual sentencing, as we've explained, many times on the pod, is determined by federal guidelines based on the specifics of the crime, the amount of loss, and the criminal history. In the lead up to the sentencing, federal prosecutors had requested a sentence of forty one months The court ultimately sentced him to twenty four months, as we've seen on the show. The four million restitution figure covers the total economic loss to the USDA caused by his fraudulent reporting, specifically involving underreported grain totals from twenty eighteen to twenty twenty. The additional three point two million money judgment is a separate legal mechanism intended to force the forefeiture of the direct proeds he obtained from that fraud. Steve McB surrendered to authorities on december first, twenty twenty five to begin serving his sentence and he is still currently in prison right now. But as we know, the legal drama in this family doesn't just stop. W Steve MB's sentencing, it's only gotten more complicated. Since we last covered this, the government has taken further legal action currently serving a two year sentence for the crop insurance fraud we discussed, but federal prosecutors are now pursuing a new civil lawsuit against him and two of his sons, Cole and Jesse. The core of this new civil filing, allegations of fraudulent asset transfers. The US government claims that back in january twenty twenty four, while the investigation into the crop insurance fraud was heating up and Steve was anticipating criminal liability that Steve Sr transferred ownership stakes in three of his companies, McB Properties, Rock, Bluff Development and SNK Enterprises directly to Cole and Jesse. Federal prosecutors argue that these transfers were made with the specific intent to shield those assets from being seized to pay the four million dollars in restitution that Steve owes for the crop insurance fraud Essentially, federal civil prosecutors are trying to unwind these transfers to recover the value of those assets. The government's core argument is that these transfers were made without receiving reasonably equivalent value in exchange. Essentially, the prosecutors contend that Steve McBee Sr gave away a significant portion of his wealth to his sons for essentially nothing while knowing that he was about to incur a massive debt to the federal government. The lawsuit doesn't set a specific public dollar value for each LLC in the complaint, but the following context is relevant to the scale of this financial dispute. Again, Steve McBee was obligated to pay four million do in restitution. That doesn't include the fines, by the way. And the government is using the lawsuit to ensure that he cannot hide assets that should be used to satisfy the debt And as you've noticed, if you've been watching this season, that's a significant storyline, so I'm sure the prosecutors are watching this. During the second season of the McV Dynasty, it was widely reported that the family farming operation was carrying a debt load of approximately seventy million dollars. And the defense for the often points to this high debt level to argue that the business interest and therefore the transferred equity had little to no actual net value or that the transfers were standard estate planning rather than a scheme to hide liquid assets. So because the government can't simply seize the shares the same way that they might seize cash from a drug bust, for example, they're asking the court for money judgments against Cole and Jesse for the value of the interests. This effectively creates a mechanism where if the court finds that the transfers are fraudulent The sons could be held personally liable for the value of those interests regardless of the LLC's underlying debt. In short, the value at stake is the equity that Steve McBee Sr. held in these entities at the time of the transfer. If there's actually a trial in this case, that will likely involve forensic accounting to determine what those percentages were actually worth and whether they were shielded to avoid the four million restitution and if there is a sufficient equitable interest for the government to reco In defense, the McV's are countering the trusts for the two sons, Cole and Jessse were created more than a decade before the transfer of those assets was made in twenty twenty four and that those asset transfers were an established practice of the trust. So here's a timeline of the events according to the lawsuit. In june twenty twenty three, Steve McVee sror was notified about the federal investigation december twenty twenty three, Steve McBee Sr's attorney met with prosecutors. On january seventh, twenty twenty four, Steve McBe Sr. transferred ownership interest in the three family LLCs that we talked about to Cole and Jessse. Then in november twenty twenty four, Steve McBr The McBee's attorneys are arguing that key facts needed to establish fraud are missing from the complaint, including that Steve McBee, Sr was insolvent at the time of the transfers, believed he could not pay his debts, received notice of the specific amount owed and attempted to conceal assets, and that the asset transfred departed from the established estate planning pattern McB's attorney says that these were gifts to inheritance trusts for the debtor's children, Steve McBee, Sr's children, and that these trusts were established in december twenty twelve, over a decade before the transfers. They arguue that the absence of consideration is inherent in a gift that it does not standing alone establish fraud. And Steve McBee's attorneys are arguing that the government is making unsupported and conclusory allegations that do not satisfy the rigorous demands for pleading fraud under federal law. Among what the prosecutors are asking for in the lawsuit is that the court nullified the transfers. Specifically, Steve McB Sr. transferred his ownership interest in the three companies to his sons, Jesse and Cole. That includes a thirty nine percent interest in M Properties LLC A ninety nine percent interest in Rock Bluff Development LLC and a ninety nine percent interest in SNK Enterprises LLC. According to the lawsuit, Stehven B Sr. split those interests evenly between Jesse and Cole. The federal government also notes that the debtor, Stehven B Sr, swore that he had made no transfer of assets or property for the purpose of evading financial obligations created by the agreement And that evading obligations that may be imposed by the court or hindering efforts of the USAO to enforce such financial obligations. Moreover, the debtor, Steve McB Sr, promised that he would make no such transfers in the future. The federal government's lawsuit includes six claims for fraudulent conveyance under both federal and Missouri state law. The United States government argues that the transfers were made with actual intent to defraud the federal government and that the transfers were made without equivalent When Steve McBee sr. knew he would face debts that he couldn't pay. In addition, the US government has asked the court to file an injunction preventing anyone from selling, mortgaging, or disposing of the business assets. And the federal government is also seeking money judgments against Jesse McBe and Cole McBee for the value of the transferred interest. However, as part of Steve McB's ple agreement the US governmentreed not to charge anyone in his family with insurance fra So this federal lawsuit against Steve McBee Sr. Cole McBee, and Jesse McBee is currently active and moving towards a jury trial scheduled for may third, twenty twenty seven. Earlier this year, in March of twenty twenty six, the court denied a motion filed by the McBes to dismiss the lawsuit. The court specifically found that the government's allegations, specifically that Steve McBee transferred business interest to his sons shhortly after learning of his criminal liability, provided a quote plausible inference of fraudulent intent allowing the case to proceed. I have no doubt that we will continue to update you on this case as it goes, but enjoy our previous episode with all of the juicy information from Steve McB Senror's divorce and all the details of the insurance fraud Christie talks about how when Galina first showed up, she was the housekeeper In one of the wasasha Krapens's recaps and Ronnie are talking about how we don't approve of what she did, but it's actually impressive that she's a Russian immigrant, shows up as the housekeeper and then ends up dating this man and she owns ten percent of the businesses Welcome to the Bravo Docket, where your favorite reality TV drama meets the courtroom I'm Cessie, and I'm Angela, and we're two attorneys with a passion for pop culture here to dive into the juiciest lawsuits and legal battles in the world of reality TV. Whether you're here for the facts, fun, or just some law one hundred one, let's get into today's case. Hi everyone. Wlcome back to the Bravo Dcket. I'm going gonna give it over to Angela. This is your up Yeah introduce what's going on. Yes. so I have been watching the McBe Dynasty and I have gotten veryer interested in that show. They're so bad at reality TV and so good at the same time. because they're bad at it. that it's just very entertaining to watch. Plus it's shot in Kansas City. areas around there and I live there for a long time. it's a lot of familiar areas for me that are just crazy for me to see them on TV They shoot a scene in Cafe Verona, which is an independent square which is where my grandparents have lived pretty much forever and It's such a tiny sleepy little toown Square that it's just crazy to me that there's a reality show on Bravo that filmed a scene there Yeah, I mean, that's a part of the country that I'm very unfamiliar with. So it is interesting to see that there's a reality show there. Yeah, you've pretty much been all east coast and all west coast except for your stint in Houston. Other than that, you've been on both coast pretty much. Yes So this is very new. I will confess, it's a show that I tried to get into, to not fully get into Just to be honest I'm hoping you give it a chance and then start the second season is just so messy and so entertaining They're such a hot mess. But the McBess are this family and like in the first season, you're introduced to them and it's on Pacock Bravo The first season you're introduced to them and Steve Sr. is the patriarch of the family and I don't think he was originally intended to be sort of the main character on the first season. I just think he was such a hot mess that he ended up being The main character on the first season, he creates a lot of drama just by being who he is So he's kind of perfect for reality TV But he has been charged with and pled guilty to a major federal crime, which we're going to talk about. and which is not surprising if you've watched the show actually And then it's got three of the four McBe sons on the first season that are pretty heavily featured along with their girlfriends My initial impression of the family was that It was like the righteous gemstones where it's like they were on this huge property. the way the dad explained it was a huge property and all the sons have their own properties on the land That is the righteous gemstone family where their houses are like right next to each other loveo that comparison because I love the righteous gemstones and Yeah, I can very much see that comparison None of the McB's break into song or anything, but I can very much see that comparison. I'm surprised now that we know more from The Mary Cosby episodes, how Essentially easy it is to start a church and not pay taxes on anything. quuite frankly, I'm surprised they haven't started a mega church on that property. I don't want to give them ideas, but I feel like they could. They could Oh, they could, for sure I mean, one of them would have to say he found Jesus and become a preacher, but that would be a lot more profitable and easier than farming Anyway, so they have so many businesses and everything else that we'll get into. The first season, it's really focused on the farm and they have to make all this money to save the farm and they need this deal with their coffee and car washes, which by the way is a smart idea So anyway, Steve Sr, he's the paychrer of the family is in his fifties. He claims to have founded the family farm with the purchase of three hundred acres in the late nineteen nineties from My research, it looks like his ex wife's family money is what may have funded that purchase I don't know for sure on that But we'll talk more about that later. So he and his ex wife, Christie were married for twenty eight years and had four children before getting divorced. They filed for divorce in twenty twenty, and I think the final decree was in twenty twenty two And according to his ex wife, Christy, and I think Steve pretty much admits it as well. Steve Sr. a big part of the divorce was his infidelities with Galena Selzkova Who is a main character on the show? And again, we'll talk more about her later. So I put in three pictures here And the first picture is the ex wife Christie. The second picture is Galena, and then the third picture is Masha. And in season two, Galena talks about how she introduced Steve Sror to Masha And then Masha has now replaced Galena. as the girlfriend of Steve Sr. And Galina is not happy about that and there's been some missing chickens and she did like seven thousand dollars worth of damage to Masha's Porsche and all kinds of stuff. I think she even put the shoes and some other things in the dishwasher and I mean just went through the house and oh, she definitely messed up his cowboy hats, which were that was probably thousands of dollars worth of damage shute how we h's so expensive. So then I put in some information about Christy McBe Okay, so Christy ownwns Lantel Communications, which is a communications and concrete business And after her divorce, she retained it and the divorce fight. Steve Sr's prediction that the business would fail within six months, it's extremely profitable. And she considers that to be sweet revenge after her divorce Lantle communications is a really big deal It's headquartered in the Kansas City area. And on their website, it talks about how it's one of the few companies certified as a woman owned business enterprise. with the headquarters in the Kansas City area, and it's been around for twenty five years and they do fiber installation, cable routing Steve seniors ex wife, Christie, who we're talking about, her dad founded terminal consolidation, which is a huge deal and Kansas City and other areas, it is massive. and her father definitely had a lot of money after creating this massive enterprise So a big thing on the show is them talking about all of the businesses they own and the different things they're doing in addition to the farming operation in the coffee and car wasash. they've got a ton of businesses And so I was able to go back and pull the divorce pleadings And According to Steve Senr's attorney, this was the percentage of ownerships of the businesses as of twenty twenty Is he petitioner or respondent He's the respondent She filed her divorce The rampant Galena adultery was just too much for her to deal with among I'm sure, many other things So There are so many things on here and then What's kind of interesting is so there's a property management companany Spanish Cove LLC. there's McB custom Homes, which he says is one hundred percent his. There's the Ozark properties and Ozark distribution, one hundred percent owned by Christi And then land tele commommunications, that was sixty two percent. owned by Christi prior to the divorce, which explains why she was able to retain that. And I think it was definitely a smart decision for her to be like, I'm keeping this This is mine. thing that's interesting that caughta looking at this There's a column here says percentage owned by an identity of third party You can see Stehven And Jesie, but Pole's name does not appear very often. Yeah. And it's kind of a storyline on the show that Cole, I mean, he's only twenty six on the season that's airing right now. So it's not like he's that much experience doing anything really, It's kind of a running theme on the show that Cole isn't responsible and can't handle anything If you've tried everything to lose weight and still feel stuck, this summer can be different. 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Ollie, feed the obsession So Steve Sr and Christy's divorce was messy So in a motion for temporary restraining order to prevent Steve Sener from withdrawing or moving assets in the divorce, Christie alleged that on october twenty seventh, twenty twenty Steve Senror withdrew five hundred fifty two thousand dollars from their jointly owned company Lantel Communications Services. pay a personal loan at Pony Express Bank for another business. Christie, who did not consent, claimed no knowledge of how these funds were used despite repeated requests Following this, Christie removed Steve Sr as an authorized signer Steve Sr. then attempted to write two checks from Lantel's account eighty five thousand dollars per a year of prepaid rent. precedented. Let me'd interject there real quick. So the prepaid rent was to another company that held the property on which Lantel was operating And so he, I think was trying to get a full year of rent before that got Because he owns that company. So I think he was trying to go ahead and get that money ostensibly before the judge said one way or the other about how to deal with the rent on that property. Let me just pay my rent real quick. Yeah, let me just pay my rent to myself real quick from my wife's company that she owns sixty two percent of And then he also paid fifty two thousand dollars for property taxes on the marital home and another property. Both checks were denied, and Christie asserted neither was an ordinary business expense for Lantel It was also alleged that in november twenty twenty, Steve Senner sold marital property, specifically a twenty eighteen CRA SLX four hundred which was valued at over four hundred fifty thousand dollars without Christie's knowledge or consent. What is that? F four hundred fifty thousand dollars has gott to be a boat Yeah, there has to be a bow Let's look at the picture of this boat Yeah it's about Oh yeah. Yeahah, that's beautiful. Yeah So sold it without Christie's knowledge or consent, and Christie claimed no knowledge of the whereabouts of those proceeds. Similarly, in august twenty twenty, Steve Srt listed the party's lake home in Sunrise Beach, Missouri valued at one point six million dollars for sale without Christie's knowledge or consent She further alleged that since filing for divorce, Steve sror transferred ownership of McB Farms LLC which was previously co owned by both of them into an irrevocable trust for the benefit of their adult children. Again, without Christy's knowledge or consent She claimed that although the transfer occurred during the marriage She had neither agreed to, nor was fully informed about the nature of this transfer Despite the trust arrangement Senior was alleged to retain control, running the business, holding one hundred percent of voting rights and using its funds to pay for his personal expenses. Ch also alleged that he retitled the party's marital home and Lake H, so the Sunr' Beach H, transferring ownership to MakeB Farms LLC without her knowledge or consent Can you imagine having that much property that like your husband could just sell a one point six million dollars house and you wouldn't know about it until later No, I cannot imagine. me either. Like I'd be like, excuse Inot. You did what So Christie also argued in the pleading that Steve Sr. spent marital assets to purchase a home and vehicles for his girlfriend and her daughter, which I'm assuming is Galena because that matches the timeframe. And that he had funded multiple plane tickets and travel expenses for them as well as engaging in, quote, other expenditures or extramarital affairs without Christy's knowledge or approval I believe that. I'm assuming that in october seventh, twenty twenty, because that's around when Christie was filing for divorce Like right? before after like that's one of the first things you do is you have your especially if you have this kind of money haveave your accountants work with your lawyers And so I think this is where she's saying on october seventh, twenty twenty, she found out that four years of their personal taxes needed to be amended to retroactively transfer partial or full ownership of the party's businesses to their oldest son. So he went back and transferred like without her consent portions of the businesses to the oldest son to Steve Jror. But he didn't pay the taxes that way So he was probably still taking deductions on losses for those businesses and then when she's going through with the accountants to prepare her demand and whatever else for the divorce They're like, there's some discrepancies here and the federal government's probably going to notice at some point. So you're going to need to fix that. That's my theory on that. Got it. Okaykay But she says that she believes that he was trying to make it appear retroactively key business and asset transfers occurred prior to the commvencement of the divorce proceedings So trying to argue that He was trying to take that out of joint marital property. The reason he did that was to get that to be not marital property prior to her filing for divorce so that she wouldn't have a claim to them She also asserted that sometime in twenty twenty, Steve Sr refinanced three outstanding loans on approximately one hundred and twenty eight properties That's Yeah With the total amount increasing from two point nine eight four million dollars to seven point two million dollars, meaning that there was about four point two million dollars in additional cash received. Christie claimed not to know where these additional funds were held or how they had been used and suspected that this was another effort by Steve Sr. to hide assets Lastly, she alleged that he refused to provide adequate discovery related to their finances, making it impossible for her to fully assess the breadth of asset transfers, manipulations or concealment This refusal, she claimed further supported her assertion of possible ongoing efforts by Steve Sr. to conceal marital assets from her And Cessie, I'm sure you won't be surprised in their divorce case. I mean, and I wouldn't be surprised about this just because of the amount of assets and things they had to divide anyway. But they had a special discovery master appointed and Christy had filed several motions to try to get him to you know provide documents especially for the companies that were solely in his name and then for these transfers and other things that he did. And I think she filed like three different motions to get that done. And then she was awarded sanctions and attorney's fees for them having to do that. And then There was a discovery master appointed and the discovery master went through and said, yes, these sanctions are appropriate because you know she's been trying to get this stuff and this is basic discovery, blah blah blah. So he opposed the temporary restraining order and injunction, and he claimed that immediately following the filing of the divorce Christie quote, forged Steve Sr.'s name to, or otherwise negotiated deposited a federal income tax refund check. in the amount of three hundred fifty thousand dollars and had refused to inform him as to the whereabouts of said funds stating only that the three hundred fifty thousand dollars was secured in an account. I wouldn't be wanting him to know where that was either. No like you can all the judge says you can have it Steve Senror further alleged that Christie had her own boyfriend. who is formerly Steve Sr.'s friend and business manager, assume all operations of Lantel commommunications and that by virtue of her majority ownership, she unilaterally removed Steve Sr. as a signatory on the business account. and stopped the company from paying rent and past due rent to another business entity owned by the parties. Yeah is Steve Sr.'s business entity He's like, how dare you? stop me from paying rent He also alleged that Chrisie even providing support for her boyfriend with whom she was designing and building a new home. Well, this is after she's already filed for divorce and also Technically, maybe she was providing support, but He had been a longtime employee of the Lantel commommunications in a very high level position. So it's not the same thing I guess maybe in his mind it was the same thing because he made Galena his mistress, the CFO Anyway, we're not going to go through all of the divorce pleadings, but I know everyone that watched the show and got interested in it was really curious about the money and their assets and what businesses they had where things came from and whatever Anyway, so she had this long laundry list of things that Cie and I both summarized And all he could come up with was the three hundred fifty thousand dollars federal tax refund check, which that was I'm assuming to both of them or to the business. And then He's mad that she removed him from landill communications and halted the rent payments, but She's the majority shareholder and was before the divorce of Lant tele communications by a lot, by like sixty two or sixty three percent So she has the right to do that, no matter what. And then halting the repnt payments. I mean, according to Christie, they never paid the full rent to Steve Sr.'s company in advance. So that's not the same thing. And then he's like, oh, yeah, she assumed full operational control with her boyfriend. It's like She's the owner of the company. She's allowed to do that. Like she's the majority shareholder of that company. and has been for decades So He's grasping at straws. He's grasping at straws When Cessie and I are deep in court documents or prepping for a massive episode, the last thing I want to worry about is an uncomfortable outfit. but I still want to look chic and pulled together, which is exactly why I am obsessed with Quintinces. They make elevated essentials using premium materials like European linen, organic cotton, and washable silk without the traditional retail markup. If you haven't tried Quintince's one hundred percent European linen pants, dresses and tops yet You are seriously missing out. 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As someone who doom scrolls and shops a lot at night, let me just tell you, that's so important for your sales is making it so easy so that people don't have to get up and get their wallet. And if you ever have a tech question you're secretly afraid to ask, Shopify's built in AI assistant sideidekick is always ready to help you troubleshoot and keep moving All you need is the idea. Shopify handles the rest. art your free trial at shhopify d. com slash dot. That's shhopify dot com slash dcket. Okay, so what did Steve Senr end up getting in the divorce So he received several real estate properties. So you got the sunrise Beach home two gallatin properties and then one hundred and sixty acres in Pollock, Idaho B been to Idaho No, but I really want to. I've only been once and it was beautiful I watched this YouTube series Act where this YouTuber visited fifty states in fifty days with his wife. Wow Yeah. and it was a fundraiser as well for Staint Jude. and he stayed it what he thought were the coolest properties in each state And it was so well done that I got such a hek can. all these states and I have an itch to travel around the country now The Midwest looked awesome. I was actually talking to a friend who lives in New York and she's like, It sucks that we're far away and the only place we can meet is in the middle I'm like, no, Lou, I want to go to the middle now after watching all those videos Please send me the middle. But yeah, I know Idaho' just not in the winter. It's not yeah, not in the winter. Yeah But just so everyone knows in case you want to watch the series, called his name's Ryan Trahan It's an incredible series and he far surpassed his one million dollar goal is what I'll say Okay, yeah, I'm going to have to watch some of that. And I really want to see like where they went in some of the states What vehicles, boats, everything else that Steve in the divorce? So he got a helicopter valued at four hundred thousand dollars twenty twenty four navigator, a twenty twenty for FI fifty, a twenty sixteen forward two and fifty, which is a crew cab A two thousand eight Chevy three thousand five hundred, a trailer on land in Boise, Idaho And those became his sole flash separate property Okay, you got some of the bank accounts. He got shares of something called A certiootherapeutics. he got one hundred forty thousand shares in that. And then he got the proceeds from the sale of the searay from the boat that he sold And he got a Morgan Stanley account. Steve. senior. obbviously worked at Alanta Communications because he had a retirement account from there So He got to keep that and then a couple insurance policies and then he got a list of some of the businesses. and then I thought this list of personal property was kind of entertaining. Seververal Rolex watches, a tag heer watch, various mowers, a golf cart, John Deere equipment, and a polaris four wheeler some four wheelers trailers, his guns and gun equipment, a jukebox Kaboda Mer. from fourteen hundred Bill Johnson Road He also receives all personal property at the homes awarded to him unless specified otherwise And again, the proceeds from the sale of the boat. So then he was also required to assume significant debts, which shows that the court was like,, these are your debts We're not making the wife badies Uh, mortgage. four hundred thousand dollars. Ford credit vehicle loan of fifty four thousand dollars to be paid off within sixty days Any and all debt associated with any business entity awarded to him, which is logical Any other debts or medical bills incurred by him since the filing of the action are held in his name only responsibility for any leveraged properties All obligations relating to vehicles, trailers and the helicopter awarded to him and all debts associated with the real properties awarded to him, including the mortgage, taxes, insurance, and utilities So he has to pay Christie, five hundred fifty thousand dollars in ten annual installments of fifty five thousand dollars whichich also tells me that the court determined that he owed her some money essentially. I guess yeah, that's a lot of money Why They ended up so I think they had a private settlement because they ended up agreeing to a judgment after a bunch of litigation And so I didn't see anything about a court hearing or anything determining this. So I think they ended up either one or the other saying, okay, here's what we're going to agree to and then presenting that to the court And I think there were probably a lot of reasons one way or the other why he agreed to that. Maybe because he didn't want a bunch more of accountants going through a lot of the stuff. I don't know Christy. B. was awarded significant assets in the divorce settlement. And again, I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that she brought a lot into the marriage She got all the proceeds from a sale of a fairly substantial property in Indpendous, Missouri and with the deduction of the four hundred thousand dollars mortgage that Steve Sr. is responsible for So the properties on North Highway seven in Indpendence, Missouri became Christy's sole separate property That's actually like a big deal because of where it is So those properties were collateral for Landel Communications line of credit for which she was responsible. She was awarded the contents of those buildings. She has a long list of bank accounts that she got to keep And then she was ordered one hundred percent interest in several businesses, including other their assets and debts, Land teelecommunications, Teadata LLC, University Security Group, and Smartly, she had a non competition and confidentiality agreement in place to protect these business interests. for herself. She restained her trust her diamond ring, two ladies Rolex date Just watches. a lady' tag Her watch and the contents of those two buildings mentioned before courourt also had to retain a bunch of non marital property, which is several bank accounts. and Austin Buckner Properties LLC. and then it talks about the equalization payment the five hundred fifty thousand dollars over ten years Oh, she got a nine percent interest applied if the payments were delinquent. I have a feeling he might be making some delinquent payments Christie maintained the responsibility for their youngest son for health insurance, medical expenses education, his college, whatever else But I think the important thing there is she protected her premarital assets and then was like fine have the farm have your helicopter whatever, keep the proceeds from the boat I don't care by. And she has, I mean, researching her, she is very business savvy, very smart. She obviously learned a lot from her dad. and she is killing it So she's the one with the money Galina. Now in the latest episode, I think as of the time that we're recording this There is a amazing sit down between Galina and Christie. Christie is such a badass in the scene. I just anyway, very well handled by her Christie talks about how when Galina first showed up, she was the housekeeper. in one of the wasasha Crapenss recaps Ben and Ronnie are talking about how We don't approve of what she did, but it's actually impressive that she's a Russian immigrant, shows up as the housekeeper and then ends up dating this man and she owns ten percent of the businesses So you want know this was an interview in decider dot com d where Galina has asked some questions Before coming to McB, I was just working normal jobs I had my daughter just a couple years after college. I put my career on hold for a long time because I was a stay at home mom When my daughter got older, I finally started having free time. I knew I wanted to start building back my career because I never wanted to depend on anybody again So I started actively asking myself, what do I need to do Well, apparently what she needed to do was start dating Steen Myir But here's how Galina describes it we wantna continue So I love the operations side of the business and worked my way up with a couple corporations. I was able to apply what I learned with smaller businesses on the side That's how I started with Steve and Stehven jun, I started helping them with one of their companies, just doing the analysis of their profit and loss statements I was able to build up cost structures to help them become more profitable and efficient So through that, I earned their trust and respect As our business grew, they needed more people. I was the first one that they offered a full time job And that's how I started working at the farm So then the interviewer says, and you worked your way up to CFO, Chief fininancial Officer She says, I know. I'm mostly operations now, but I'm willing to learn everything the journeyy. In twenty twenty, we lost most of our team So then the three of us had to figure out who did what guys didn't have the patience to crunch the numbers, classic. Yeah. create an Ecel spreadsheets, except that's literally what Avery's job is. and I don't have the patience. Not all men are bad at these things, but these if you watch them at the show, in this season, like it shows Cole trying to make a baby shower announcement on Mike's a letter? Like o, okay. likeike Microsoft Word face he like can't do it. Oh my gosh, so It's the worst baby shower announcement I've ever seen in my life continues. She says out of the three of us, I was the most suitable for that role I went straight to YouTube With YouTube and TikTok tutorials, you could take over the world truly. I mean, you really could. You really could Everything was shut down, so I'm like, okay, the internet is still out there, so I'm going to read, I'm going to learn. I'm just going to figure it out. Smart So I have to say now that I have the context of like when the divorce was, what she's saying here makes a lot of sense. So Christie files for divorce. Obviously the people that were working for Christie leave So then Steve and she's like here, fine, you deal with this. These are your businesses is your farm, whatever, have it deal with it. It's your problem now. So that makes sense that the people that were smart probably went with her And then and they were all like Excel. Ohh no. Oh they were like is like, I'll learn. I'll learn.ainne is like, well shit, I started dating this guy when he had all this. I don't want to lose it. So I'm sure she was highly motivated to learn those Ecels. spreadsheets and figure out all of that damn. 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So you have to have a new spin because Pumably anyone joining the same reality show is going to know what the twist is. So that's interesting that they did her for richer or for pooore where one was wealthy and one was. Not? Yes. So he said he's worth ten million dollars and talked about flying the helicopter on the farm And that's where he met Kala And we'll talk more about Kala in a bit, but Kala's his on and off girlfriend who appears on the first and second season. And I would have to say she's very good at reality TV. She creates a ton of drama. And there's a scene in the second season where she's arguing with people and starting things and she's in just like a normal kitchen chair and the family and like in this big you know, kitchen area. and she just starts saying things and causing problems and Steve Junior just and chair does not have wheels, but he just like slides her across and out of the room in a chair. It reminded me of like Abby Lee Miller reversing up Yeah. Im like that is so going to end up being some sort of meme talk about Steve Jr. too much. So in the first season, the dad disappears. in the last episode and just drives off. And I'm assuming that's around the time he probably found out he was being investigated for federal fraud, which we're going to go into shortly And then the second season, it really is kind of centered around Steve Jr. and his you know, trying to take over all the operations and save the farm and do all that stuff I watched part of the first episode of Joe Millionaire for Richer for poor, and he presents pretty much the same way. L it's pretty similar to what you see on the show. but You see Kala on there right away and I'm pretty sure she knew he was wealthy immediately because she pipes up and says, Ohh, well, my stepdad has a cattle ranch in Texas And so I think she kind of knew. Yeah. Apparently, Steve Junior has now officially broken up with Cala and there's been some spicy social media posts And he's currently dating singer Sadie Bass. D you know who that is? I've never heard of her No And Sadie, I think just posted somethingomet pretty saucy that was like causing some controversy that seemed like she was poking at Kala. Okay, so Kala, we're just going to talk about her a little bit because on the most recent season. So on season two, again, they met on the Joe Millionaire show. She lived on and off with Steve Jior. and I think first season, she talked about how Steve Jr would just give her like twenty thousand dollars. like when she was talking to the other girlfriends And they were like, what Yeah, you know, sometimes they'll just give me twenty thousand dollars But she talks about how she was trying to support Steve Jr. through all the things that's going on with his dad and the federal fraud charges because her father and brother had both been to federal prison So I was curious about what they did and I wasn't able to figure out what her dad did, but I did find the stuff on Tanner Jackson, which is her brother Why did Cal's brother go to prison So he went to prison because he lied about faulty Chinese made military gear to win U. S. contracts with the military. which by the way, did get purchased and sent overseas for soldiers This is bad So in twenty seventeen, he began bidding on state department contracts to supply military gear but lied in the applications saying his companies manufactured the gear because he owned body Amor LLC USA and bulletproof Armor LLC, but they were not made by his companies. Military gear supplied to the government has to pass stringent safety standards And he made up fake ballistic testing company and fabricated reports stating that the helmets and body armor passed Muster. says in twenty seventeen, he submitted a one hundred eighty four thousand dollars bid to supply the U.S. emmbassy in Baghdad with ballistic resistant body armor and helmets When a contracting officer reached out asking for proof that his gear was made in the U.S And past ballistic testing, the government said Jackson lied about the manufacturing origins and sent a fake lab report. is so messed up So bad. After I saw that, I was like, this is way more awful and interesting than I was expecting it to be and In his defense, his defense attorney submitted things saying like, okay, yes, it wasn't made in the United States and this was in fact made in China any did do quality control and it actually does pass some of the testing. But obviously for a very good reason, the United States wants to manufacture their own body armor unless it's totally overseen by the defefense deepartments. because imagine if China supplied us with like just sheine level ballistics protection or if they had a motivation to give us protection that was faulty. Exactly. you don't want Exactly. you don't want bring that in I guess he also like forged a signature to get five hundred ballistic helmets from a Chinese supplier. Yeah. Was he in Venezuela and he claimed to be representative of the U. S. emmbassy or US military or something and in order to get like the sale It's really bad. and it's also this is a lot of work. likeike who comes up with this It's like this is the crime I'm going to commit. I'm curious about the origin of all this stuff. We're not gonna to get into that now, but I'm just like So we got thirty three months with credit for time served then he had to pay one hundred eighty four thousand dollars in restitution, a fifteen thousand dollars fine Three years of supervised release as well Another thing about Kala is we find out this season that her sister recently died at age twenty six, which is tragic. and that is just awful, but it was a storyline and a couple episodes so far this season where Steve Jr. was, I guess, in a fight with Kalla at the time. And then when her sister died, he told his family members not to reach out to her And then she was obviously very upset about that because she's been hanging around for years and then her sister dies and then no one from the McBee family or the girlfriends or whatever reached out. They didn't reach out because Steve Jr. told them not to. Anyway, it's a whole part of the messiness. Then we have the second son in age and it's Jesseie McBee and Allie McB. I don't really have anything to say about Jesseie McBee except that he's attractive D doesn't do much. Yeah. like Allie seems pretty cool. She is a nurse and works really hard and runs half marathons, but I don't really know anythingthing about her. They're not super exciting on the show That's probably the best position to be in. Yeah. you probably want to be like in reality, where you actually have to live in reality, it's probably good if you're not that interesting on reality TV. Yes. So this season, we're watching her plan the wedding and then they're talking about like, oh, you know One of us lives in town, One of us lives. onn the farm and like blah blah, blah, who's gonna live in my house? Anyway That's pretty much the extent of their drama so far, but they do end up getting married and they got married in twenty twenty four Then we have Cole McBee and his girlfriend, Casey Atkinson, and she is just like a stunning natural beauty. Like she's really reallyally beautiful But she apparently got knocked up between season one and season two. so we see her pregnant on season two. They are not married. It seems like she's kind of the one being like m. I'm not so sure This is a good idea or not? It's the third child. So he's the third of the brothers If you want to know anything about Cole, just listen to the watchatch what crapens recaps of this show I'm not going to say much else about him Why is he like dumb in the latest season, he does things that like a twenty six year old boy from that area of Missouri would do. likeike he gets drunk and punches a hill They were in a pool with everyone at the Lake of the Ozarks and he about Kala's in front of his pregnant girlfriend. Well, twenty six is pretty old. I guess So you can give him chit Okay Yes, he needs to get it together. He's about to be a dad. Yeah, twenty six. grraduated from law school at twenty six, comeome on Th then there's Brayon, who's the youngest, but he's barely on the show. So far he's just made a minor appearance in season two. Okay. So now on to the federal criminal charges There isn't a lot of pleadings about this because he pled guilty pretty quick. Steve Sr. did At least it seems like he did. So On season two of the McBe dynasty, we first get a glimpse of what's going on when Galina lets it slip. I think after she's accused of drinking on the job that Like she and Steve Jr. go into a room, but they still have their microphones on And they're talking about the he's like, well, your dad is being investigated by the FBI And then Kala A the fight in the Ozarks and when she's leaving, she's like, well, I know a lot about this family And there's a lot of things they wouldn't want me to say. She says something like that. and then she talks about how the FBI is investigating Steve Sr But Anyway, the point of that is there isn't a lot of pleadings on the federal court criminal docket for this. There's just really the charge and then his guilty plea and some other things that we can't access From this first paragraph, what is the factual basis for his guilty plea So he pled guilty from january first, twenty eighteen to june thirtieth, twenty nineteen making a false statement through the submission of a proof of loss to rain and hail for the twenty eighteen crop here falsely under repporting his total twenty eighteen corn crop and soybean crop production by a material amount He acknowledged that the proof of loss and production worksheets caused the payout of approximately two point six million dollars in federal crop insurance benefits to which he was not entitled due to the under repporting Federal crop insurance premium subsidies of approximately five hundred fifty two thousand dollars to which he was not entitled. and caused the FCIC, which is the Federal crop inssurance Corporation to pay administrative cost to rain and Hle which the FCIC would not have paid the defendant's false statements to the federal crop insurance program in volation of blah, blah, blah blah blah. So, that's very dense. It's very dense The federal crop insurance program was created during the dust bowl of the nineteen thirties as a way to keep farmers from going bankrupt because of the bad growing season. The US. Department of Agriculture pays about fifteen private insurers to sell and manage the policies. Taxpayers are on the hook for most of the losses So And many times growers have to take out crop insurance ahead of the growing season for a bunch of different reasons payment on those policies is not due until after the harvest. So if the crop is damaged by bad weather or Bugs are whatever else The farmer is paid the difference between the value of the diminished harvest and the amount of the policy. and I was actually curious about how common crop insurance fraud is because this kind of seems like it would be sort of easy to do in a way. Yeah You're self reporting, right? Yeah, they're self reporting. It's tracked. like this is the amount of seeds you buy for this much land There's so much bad weather and other things that can happen that would create a loss. and then it's just like we're giving these spreadsheets. to the insurance company and the insurance company is like We'll probably cross referencing with weather. com to make sure that there was a storm that day. You know, if you're reporting a loss because of a storm, Yeah, but it's like for the whole season. It's just like my yield wasn't as high as it should have been or whatever Mm. So Anyway, I was curious about how common that is and I saw this really interesting story. It was B something like a hundred million dollars in scams North Carolina, where a bunch of tobacco growers and insurance agents and whatnot. They had a whole scam going with a bunch of people and they defrauded the federal government for so much money Oh He was ordered to pay sixteen point five million dollars in court ordered restitution Yeah I guess in that case, they all started ratting on each other once they all got caught. and that's how they figured out like the scale of how big the fraud operation was So if I went to the Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency And it has a list of their prosecutions connected with the Federal crop inssurance program And I don't know if they list them all here, but I would assume if it's a decent sized one, they would list it to be like, hey, this is what we're doing. This is what your tax dollars or prosecutions are being spent Not surprised that twenty twenty one has a lot more than the years prior So twenty twenty one, there's four and then twenty twenty there were Five In twenty twenty one, there's about Over ten ing now But I mean, I think the difference in years probably, I mean, obviously, we know twenty twenty one. There was a lot more people scamming around the time of COVID but also I think it shows like maybe the difference in some of the administration' like enforcement priorities and like who's in charge of that agency. because I have a feeling there's probably the same amount of fraud going on every year Pro probablyably average is about the same I't know though All right, so going back to McB P the contract, McBe Farming operations bought all their seed for corn and soybeans from Indigo be planted only in Digo Cn and soybeans in McBe fields in twenty eighteen The contract further stipulated that McBe farming operations would sell back all the corn and soybeans harvested during twenty eighteen to Indigo and deliver the corn and soybeans to grain elevators on behalf of Indigo McBe fararming operations kept Indigo updated throughout the twenty eighteen harvest with a number of bushels that had been harvested and placed into storage, which allowed Iigo to know how much income to expect from crops delivered by the McB farming operations. twenty eighteen was a growing season affected by drought And so yield numbers were reduced for most Missouri farms McB admits that McB farming operations, which were headquartered in Gallaton, Missouri,