JUNE 2026 – Two WSJ reporters – one based in London – earlier this month did a post-mortem on the sad tale of a Kentucky man who grossly overstated the size of his far-flung cattle herds, getting into hock so deep that he committed suicide when his financial house of cards began to collapse. Part of the story involves Holland-based Rabo Bank, which extended tens of millions of dollars in credit to the man, Brian McClain. In early 2023 McClain shot himself when sheriff’s deputies were about to arrest him for writing bad checks.
Stories such as this are not terribly difficult to report – the dead guy at the center of the story can’t answer for his actions, and there’s a long document trail after three years of a bankruptcy process. But is is laid out clearly, and not too breathlessly, while explaining the culture of long-term trust between lenders and cattle ranchers, who report their herd numbers as bank collateral pretty much on a handshake. Moreover, several local investors got deceived as well by what turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.
One of the reporters, Nebraska native Patrick Thomas, writes about “agriculture and America’s food supply chain … and about the way food in the U.S. is grown and sold,” according to the WSJ site. And Margot Patrick covers global finance for the WSJ, based in London.
https://www.wsj.com/finance/cattle-empire-ponzi-scheme-3d245791