Northeast Iowa Farmer Sentenced to 15 Years for Stealing Cattle, COVID Benefits
A northeast Iowa farmer has been sentenced to over 15 years in federal prison for stealing over $5 million worth of livestock and federal pandemic assistance.
Prosecutors say 54-year-old Michael Butikofer of Monona convinced eight investors to sell their cattle in his name, taking over $2.5 million of profits “for his own use.” The Clayton County man was also accused of getting over a million dollars in emergency assistance from the USDA at the start of the pandemic for cattle he did not own and making false claims to get a $1.5 million disaster loan from the SBA in early 2022.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Butikofer also recruited employees from South Africa who were forced to live on the farm without access to clean water or even furniture. He also used his bankruptcy filing to dupe three migrants who’d worked for him into accepting 30% of the nearly quarter of a million dollars a federal court ordered Butikofer to pay them for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Last year, federal agents rescued a husband, wife and teenage daughter from South Africa from Butikofer’s farm. They had been living in a camper without water, electricity or heat. This past April federal agents prevented other migrants recruited to work at the farm from going there.
*Radio Iowa contributed to this story
