GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Decatur man pleaded guilty to multiple fraud charges after he lied to obtain a $68 million loan for his farm.
Mike Stamp, 46, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank and crop insurance fraud.
Investigators say he lied to Wells Fargo in 2011 about the amount of land he farmed and the value of his company’s assets. After getting the loan, he continued to misrepresent things about his business, Stamp Farms, by creating false farmland leases and other documents.
Stamp also admitting to defrauding the federal crop insurance program by filing false claims, falsifying harvested crops records and getting crop insurance in the names of things with no insurable interest.
Stamp’s wife, Melissa Stamp, also pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony for being aware of her husband’s fraud and not reporting it to authorities and helping him hide money.
