Fresno County Woman Arrested for over $790,000 in Crop Insurance Fraud
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FRESNO, Calif. On March 10, 2021, Jatinderieet “Jyoti” Sihota, 34, of Selma, was arrested on a federal indictment charging her with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and mail fraud for the submission of over $790,000 in fraudulent crop insurance claims, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. The indictment was unsealed today following her arrest.
According to court records, from at least November 2013 through September 2016, Sihota controlled her family’s farms in Fresno and Tulare Counties that produced table grapes, plums, and other crops. The crops were sold through fruit brokers in California’s Central Valley to supermarket chains and other third-party buyers.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides technical and financial assistance to help Wisconsin farmers and livestock producers recover from damages brought on by winter storms Uri and Viola. Agricultural producers are encouraged to contact their local USDA Service Center to learn about the programs available to help them recover from crop, land, infrastructure, and livestock losses.
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Farmers who file a claim on their Federal Crop Insurance coverage must request arbitration in a timely manner if their claim is denied by their approved insurance provider or AIP, crop insurance legal expert Grant Ballard said.
That’s a change from previous crop insurance rules which said a dispute over a claim had to be taken to mediation and then to arbitration if the insured and the AIP couldn’t resolve the issue but didn’t spell out who had to file for arbitration.
Ballard, an attorney with Arkansas Ag Law in Little Rock, Ark., and a speaker for a recent monthly National Agricultural Law Center Webinar, said the change is contained in the 21.1-BR Common Crop Insurance Policy revisions announced by the USDA Risk Management Agency last November.