KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri farmer and former reality TV star Steve McBee will spend the next two years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty in federal court to making a false statement with federal crop insurance.
McBee, 53, entered his guilty plea Nov. 5, 2024, in federal court in St. Joseph, Missouri. He must also pay $4,022,124 in restitution.
McBee starred in the Bravo TV reality series "The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys."
The show focuses on McBee's children, who now run the business.
A federal court document states McBee owned and operated McBee Farms LLC and Honey Creek Ranch LLC when the fraud scheme began in 2018. The family grew corn and soybeans.
The McBees had an exclusive contract with Indigo Ag Inc. for their corn and soybeans in the 2018 crop year, according to the court document. Indigo gave the family seed, and they planted, harvested, and delivered all their corn and soybeans to grain elevators in 2018.
In the same year, McBee sent in production worksheets to Rain and Hail Insurance and certified the farm produced 340,476 bushels of corn, per the court document. The farm actually produced more than one million bushels of corn.
The fraud scheme allowed him to receive just over $2 million in federal crop insurance benefits he did not deserve.
Additionally, McBee received $1,278,046 in federal crop insurance benefits after he lied about his 2018 soybean production, according to the court document.
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