USDA again sanctions powerful hog buyer for cheating sellers

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - For the second time in four years, a nationwide pork dealer has been sanctioned by regulators for illegal buying practices that have cheated hog sellers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Lynch Livestock, based in Waucoma, Iowa, has been ordered to stop recording false weights for hogs delivered to its buying stations, to stop altering classifications of hogs delivered, and to stop creating false scale tickets.

In a consent order signed this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture also ordered Lynch Livestock to pay a civil penalty of $445,626.

The USDA had ordered Lynch Livestock to cease and desist from the same improper practices in 2017 and to pay a $15,000 fine and restitution.