Reva Joyce Stachniw & Ron Throgmartin

What the public record shows

Reva Joyce Stachniw, of Galesburg, Illinois, and Ron Throgmartin, of Buford, Georgia, were convicted at trial in August 2022 — a jury verdict, not a plea — on conspiracy to commit wire fraud, five counts of wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. They were each sentenced to 6 years in prison, with $14,597,335.80 in restitution ordered jointly and severally. The scheme raised roughly $650 million from victims. This is a criminal conviction — not an allegation.

The scheme

According to the Department of Justice, from late 2017 until early 2019, Stachniw, Throgmartin, and a co-conspirator told victims their investments were “backed by short-term investments in cattle and marijuana businesses.” Victim-investors handed over money believing it would fund legitimate cattle-trading and marijuana-business activity. In reality, it was a Ponzi scheme — new investor money was used to pay earlier investors, not to run any real underlying business.

Why alternative agricultural “investments” attract fraud

Cattle and other agricultural investment vehicles are appealing fraud cover because the underlying assets are physically remote, hard to inspect, and easy to claim without proof. “Your money is backed by cattle we own” is a claim almost no retail investor can verify independently — which is exactly why it gets used.

Why we rate this 1 / 10 — Avoid

A jury conviction — meaning the evidence was tested and accepted beyond a reasonable doubt — for a scheme that raised an enormous sum on unverifiable claims about livestock and cannabis-business ownership.

Red flags this case teaches

• “Backed by” claims about physical assets you can’t inspect (cattle, inventory, real estate in another state or country) require independent, third-party verification — not just the promoter’s word.
• Short-term, high-return “trading” programs in commodities are a recurring Ponzi structure.
• A jury conviction (versus a plea deal) shows prosecutors had strong, tested evidence — a useful marker of how serious the underlying conduct was.

Bottom line

Convicted at trial and sentenced. If your return depends on cattle, inventory, or any physical asset you can’t independently verify exists, get proof from an independent party — not the person asking for your money.

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