SYRACUSE - Two upstate New York dairy farmers have to pay back more than $113,000 for trying to milk the government by selling off 300 federally mortgaged cows and then telling regulators the animals had died.
Federal prosecutors say brothers Francis Moot Jr. and Michael Moot Sr. will also spend five years on probation for the attempt to defraud the government.
The men were leasing the cows on their farm west of Utica in Munnsville when they filed for bankruptcy.
Francis Moot admitted that he told federal investigators in a February 2005 interview that most of the cows had died when he'd actually sold them to local cattle dealers for cash.
Michael Moot admitted lying about the scam under oath during a meeting of creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in March 2003.
The men were leasing the cows on their farm west of Utica in Munnsville when they filed for bankruptcy.
Francis Moot admitted that he told federal investigators in a February 2005 interview that most of the cows had died when he'd actually sold them to local cattle dealers for cash.
Michael Moot admitted lying about the scam under oath during a meeting of creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in March 2003.
