Steve McBee Sr. is preparing to begin his two-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme involving crop insurance.
In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, the 52-year-old reality star shared how he reacted to learning he would be going to prison, saying “it was a sobering moment.”
He explained that when he first heard about the investigation, he “really wasn’t overly concerned,” because, as a business owner for more than 33 years, he had “gone through every audit under the sun.” He thought it was just like any other audit, and after they got the necessary information, “it’ll go away like the rest of them.”
However, after a meeting with his lawyer, he came to understand that this time was different.
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“I went down there and the government basically just gave us kind of a BAFO – best and final offer,” he said. “We have 48 hours. He said this is their bullying technique, kind of the poker game here. And then, basically what they said was, okay, you as an individual can plead guilty and, just for clarification, you can plead to one count of giving a fraudulent statement to crop insurance. If you don’t do that as an individual, Steve A. McBee, in turn, we’re going to charge one of my teammates, one of my co-workers, with 27 federal indictments in 48 hours.”
He called what they did a “bullying technique,” saying both he and his teammates “had nothing to do with it.” He said, “When I looked at them charging some of my fellow co-workers,” he couldn’t let them take the blame, adding that as the owner of the company, “I made the decision the buck stops with me,” so he took the responsibility.
WATCH: STEVE MCBEE SR. THOUGHT THE INVESTIGATION WAS JUST ANOTHER AUDIT BEFORE GETTING SENTENCED TO PRISON TIME FOR CROP INSURANCE FRAUD
McBee was sentenced to two years at the Federal Prison Camp in Yankton, South Dakota, and during a sentencing hearing on Oct. 16, was also ordered to an additional two years of supervised release once he completes his prison sentence, and he will have to pay $4,022,124 in restitution to the USDA Risk Management Agency.
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Prior to his sentencing, he faced up to 30 years in federal prison.
“I wanna make absolute, with absolute clarity, that people understand, there’s no money missing,” he said. “When you farm like over 10,000 acres, which we farmed 44,000 acres, three states, in 2020, 923 different fields, they do a post-planting audit, a pre-harvest, and a post-harvest audit. They know what grain we have. They’ve been all over every field.”
“They found a plant date that was half wrong. We were there on May 20th. We planted half the field. We didn’t go back till like June 19th,” he added. “And they basically said, your entire crop insurance is null and void because of a half wrong plant date. I mean, I’m like, this can’t be real. That’s day-to-day common business.”
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McBee went on to call the case against him a “trophy prosecution,” adding that the business has been greatly impacted by the two-year prison sentence, explaining he’s lost over $20 million in loans. “I had to pay all them off, had to sell a bunch of land. I mean it goes on and on,” he said.
WATCH: STEVE MCBEE SR. SAYS HE ‘LOST $20 MILLION IN LOANS’ SINCE HIS SENTENCING’
In addition to the monetary loss, McBee said his reputation has also been “destroyed,” with people now thinking he earned all his money by defrauding the government, and not through “33 years of working seven days a week.”
“We didn’t make money farming. We broke even some years, and farming is very difficult to make money and, I like challenges and I love farming. It’s, I think it’s in my DNA,” he said. “Literally 75 people lost their job. We downsized drastically, and I still have 300 employees at my other businesses. It caused problems at my other businesses, well, everywhere. Everywhere you bank with, because when they charge you with a felony, I mean, then the banks get involved, as you would know from personal guarantees.”
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When it comes to his family, however, the reality star said they “have never been closer.” He said he knows he “raised four lions, not four sheep,” and isn’t worried about his sons, adding they have a strong work ethic.
Despite everything he is going through, McBee maintains he will “never let somebody make me a victim” and once his sentence is over, he “will come out stronger and more ready to go than ever.”
WATCH: STEVE MCBEE SR. SHARES HOW HE IS PREPARING FOR PRISON
“Steve McBee holds the door open for every young and old person. My kids are always like, ‘Dad, don’t pick up hitchhikers.’ I stop and change tires on the side of the highway. That’s who Steve McBee is. I know who I am,” he said. “I’m not stabbing somebody at a gas pump after I’ve been arrested 100 times and let back out on the streets. But I’m the one going to prison. Life ain’t fair sometimes, for no reason at all. I told the boys that, and I’m going to buck up, but I want my story heard because other farmers need to know they can get you any time they want.”
In terms of preparing for prison, McBee said he has “tried to get everything in line with the businesses” for his sons and the managers.
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He tries to look on the bright side of the situation, saying this is an opportunity for his managers “to step up, prove that they can do this.”
WATCH: STEVE MCBEE SR.’S JOURNEY TO PRISON WILL BE FEATURED ON “MCBEE DYNASTY: REAL AMERICAN COWBOYS”
“People don’t call me and say, ‘Hey, Steve just wanted to let you know everything’s great today,’ they call me with the crisis,” he said. “‘Hey, this and this happened, how do you want to handle it?’ Well, now they’ll get the opportunity to make those decisions, so I think they’re they’re nervous, but they’ll be fine so I’ve tried to prepare everything.”
Prior to going to prison, he will also take time to celebrate all the holidays and birthdays he will miss while away.
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The whole process will be shown on the next season of “McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys,” with McBee saying his family always wants to be “transparent” with their viewers.
“One thing that we said when we were making the show with Bravo and NBC Universal was that we want to keep it real,” he said. “We feel like too many of the shows, the drama they kind of tried to create it and whatever, so we want to be very transparent and open with our lives if we think that people can read through the BS, and they know what’s real and what’s not. And so yeah, we’re gonna allow them.”
“That was a family decision,” he added. “They asked, and they were very respectful if they could film that. And we kind of all talked about it collectively, as a group, and decided that it’s happening regardless. It’s part of our lives.”
