A North Carolina woman has just been indicted on federal charges after prosecutors accused her of orchestrating a multimillion-dollar scheme to steal money from a federal program created to compensate farmers who experienced discrimination.
A federal grand jury in Charlotte charged 64-year-old Linda Faye Hough with one count of mail fraud and six counts of making false or fraudulent claims involving more than $9 million in applications submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (DFAP).
According to the indictment, Hough allegedly submitted fraudulent applications for herself and others between January and August 2024, falsely making applicants appear eligible for compensation. Prosecutors also allege she received kickback payments from some recipients after they were awarded federal funds.
Investigators say the fraudulent applications resulted in approximately $9 million being distributed to Hough and other applicants.
The DFAP was created under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which allocated $2.2 billion to compensate farmers, ranchers and forest landowners who experienced discrimination in USDA lending programs before January 2021. Awards were capped at $500,000 per applicant.
The investigation was led by the USDA Office of Inspector General and the FBI, with assistance from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation’s Financial Crimes Unit.
Hough made her initial appearance in federal court. If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in prison on the mail fraud charge and up to five years for each false claims count.
The charges are allegations, and Hough is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
