(AP) -- A former central Missouri man has pleaded guilty to a pair of cattle fraud schemes that prosecutors say cost victims nearly $8 million.
The U.S. attorney's office says 44-year-old Kevin Ray Asbury pleaded guilty Monday to wire fraud, money laundering and bank fraud. The schemes involved his former cattle business, R&K Angus Ranch, in Howard County.
Asbury admitted beginning a Ponzi-type scheme in May 2007, soliciting investors and telling them he would use their money to buy cattle. Instead, he spent the money on his own expenses and to pay purported returns to earlier investors.
He also obtained a $4 million line of credit from The Callaway Bank by falsely claiming to own 6,000 head of cattle. The bank eventually lost more than $2.7 million as a result of the fraud.
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