North Dakota Seed Giant Alleges Million Dollar Swindle

In my days out at the diamonds, Dakota Kid sunflower seeds were king!

Now it seems the majority of folks at the ballpark are spitting Giants sunflower seeds.  Honestly, you can't go wrong with either, they are both North Dakota-based companies!  Both Giant Snacks and Dakota Natural Foods seem to be thriving financially.

In the case of Giant Snacks, they were printing money so fast it took them ten years to discover someone had allegedly misappropriated $1.67 million dating back to 2010.

Stealing $1.67 million is certainly nothing to spit at...

But that's what Giant Snacks was alleging when they filed a civil theft lawsuit against former executive Lucy Spiekermeier. AgWeek.com reports that Lucy was a former Giant Snacks Treasurer and Secretary.  The suit was filed in October 2020 alleging she had merely taken them for $600,000 in the four years between 2016 and 2020.

Later Giant Snacks upped that figure by claiming another $1 million went missing.

With that disparity, at the very minimum, I'd suggest they at least replace their treasurer. Well, Spiekermeier beat them to it by resigning in August 2020. Might have been because she was facing eight civil counts at the time. Theft, unjust enrichment, and fraud that kinda stuff.

Giant Snacks alleged Spiekermeier wrongfully wrote herself and another unnamed person checks, reimbursed herself and used company funds to pay a student loan while she was the company's treasurer and secretary, according to a civil complaint.

 

The business also claimed Spiekermeier deleted emails and destroyed or altered financial data to conceal the schemes, according to the complaint.

Pay a student loan? Is there a BS degree in Allegedly Swindling Your Company?  Here's where I apologize to you the reader for a very unsatisfying upcoming finale to this salty tale.  In a settlement conference that took place on January 24th, 2022...

The Wahpeton, North Dakota Company Giant Snacks dropped its federal case.

Well, that was mighty nice of them.  Forgive and forget?

We may never know as it seems the terms of the agreement will remain confidential. Does that mean Lucy will just go about her business? Well, that's confidential but we do know the following...

She was not criminally charged in federal court. In a court filing, Spiekermeier denied stealing or misappropriating Giant Snacks money, altering or destroying financial records, and any other wrongdoing.

Sometimes if you "play ball" you just might (allegedly) get away with it.