Robert Lee Blom, a Corisca farmer has pleaded guilty to a felony charge and is currently going through charges in South Dakota with accusations of 30 counts of mail and wire fraud and money laundering. News has it that Blom was operating a cattle “Ponzi” scheme out of Douglas County which has resulted in coining 53 people millions of dollars. According to the Federal court, he has been operating the scheme since 2014, selling out the same group of cattle to multiple buyers and using money collected from new investors to pay off the old ones. Currently Blom is owing First Dakota National Bank over $7 million.
Previously, he had pleaded guilty to criminal felony charges in McIntosh County in North Dakota for writing bad checks of $135,000; and now, he is facing a grand theft charge in Douglas Country with similar checks of up to $106,000 for a cattle payment. He is expected to go on trial for the federal charges on May 19 in Sioux Falls.