Fresno County Farmer and Owner of Fruit Packing Company Convicted of Crop Insurance Fraud

FRESNO, Calif. - Jatinderjeet "Jyoti" Sihota, 37, of Selma, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit crop insurance fraud, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court records, for many years, Sihota's family's farming operation produced table grapes and other crops in Fresno and Tulare Counties, and it sold many of those crops through a fruit packing company where Ralph Hackett was a member and manager. The farming operation also entered into financial agreements with the fruit packing company where various costs that the farming operation incurred selling its crops were advanced and covered by the company. The farming operation then had to pay the fruit packing company back by a certain date.

Beginning in 2012, Sihota became involved with her family's farming operation. Thereafter, from 2012 through 2016, she and Hackett carried out a fraud scheme to obtain more than $650,000 in crop insurance payments to which they were not entitled. They caused false information that underreported the amount of crops the farming operation sold through the fruit packing company to be provided to the insurance company to make it appear as though the farming operation had suffered significant crop losses when that was not true.

Hackett, 69, of Clovis, was separately charged and has pleaded guilty for his role in the fraud scheme. He agreed to certain sentencing enhancements because he directed lower-level employees at the fruit packing company to participate in the scheme and hid his misconduct from other principals at the company. Hackett also agreed to pay criminal restitution of $650,000 and a separate civil settlement of $605,000.

This case is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General and Risk Management Agency Special Investigations Staff. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Barton is prosecuting the case.

"The USDA OIG is committed to combatting crop insurance fraud through criminal investigations and civil enforcement.  Fraudulent activity within the crop insurance program undermines its intent and misdirects taxpayer dollars from where they were intended.  We thank the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California for pursuing justice until these conspirators were held accountable," said USDA OIG Special Agent-in-Charge Shawn Dionida.

Sihota is scheduled to be sentenced on March 3, 2025, and Hackett is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 27, 2025. They each face a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000. The actual sentences, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.