Pleas, cooperation in fraud probe linked to Oakes Farms

Fields farmed deficiently to hurt crops in order to obtain insurance proceeds, a food-distribution warehouse staged for a visit by federal auditors, millions of dollars taken from the federal government and at least six — possibly more — players who all have one connection: Francis “Alfie” Oakes III.

In the months since federal agents raided the grocery magnate’s North Naples home and Immokalee packing plant in November, hauling out boxes and documents, Oakes Farms’ former vice president, general manager, farm manager and warehouse manager were arrested and pleaded guilty to charges that include fraud, money laundering and conspiracy involving at least $8.685 million in federal funding that began during the pandemic.

The latest arrests followed two Immokalee harvesting company owners pleading guilty in January to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conducting illegal monetary transactions involving the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, which helped farmers during the pandemic. In their plea agreements, they admit to conspiring with each other and an “upper-management” employee of a “farming conglomerate based out of Collier County.”

All six defendants waived their right to have their cases heard by a grand jury and were charged in an “information” filed by federal prosecutors. They’ve all signed plea agreements, and agreed to cooperate, provide information and forfeit their “ill-gotten gains” in return for more lenient sentences. They face five to 20 years in prison and fines of $250,000, possibly more, but U.S. District Court Judge Sheri Polster Chappell will consider their cooperation and attorneys’ arguments during sentencing hearings in Fort Myers.

The plea agreements show the coconspirators defrauded not only CFAP, but also the U.S. Department of Defense Fresh Program, the Federal Crop Insurance Program, the Defense Logistics Agency, the USDA Farm Service Agency and the disaster Emergency Relief Program.

Alfie Oakes has not been charged. Neither Oakes nor his civil attorney, Steven Bracci, responded to requests for comment.

The recent cases, filed in the state’s Middle District, detail a criminal conspiracy led by “Entity 1,” which court records say was awarded a DOD contract on Oct. 25, 2022. DOD records show that’s Naples-based Oakes Farms Food & Distribution Services LLC, which edged out three others to win a five-year maximum $238.5 million fixed-price contract to provide “indefinite deliveries and quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables” to the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and schools in Alabama that participate in federal child nutrition programs.

The contract involved a 12,000-square-foot warehouse in Prichard, Alabama, which Oakes Farms leased. Florida incorporation records show that in September 2021, Oakes removed himself as an authorized member of Oakes Farms Food & Distribution Services LLC and substituted Jawan James, and Jessica Ochoa was added as vice president. In June 2024, she was replaced by Mark Zenga.

Alabama records show Oakes Farms Food Distribution Services LLC incorporated there using Morgan Noble as its organizer; a federal lawsuit filed in Virginia shows that’s a fake name used by a Spokane, Washington-based registered agent service that has set up numerous companies that “have been found to engage in wrongdoing and/or do not operate as a legitimate company would.”

A separate Oct. 30, 2024, $1,272.35 Oakes Farms Food & Distribution Services contract describes it as a minority-owned, veteran-owned, small, disadvantaged business in Naples. The contract involved supplying fresh produce to the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support Subsistence division.

The conspiracy

From about January 2023 until about December 2024, Christopher Manzanares, general manager of Oakes Farms and Seed to Table, served as the facility manager of the Prichard “food warehouse and distribution center operated by Entity 1,” an entity that was a “business owned by Coconspirator 1; the entity held various government contracts,” his plea agreement says. Federal records show Oakes Farms Food & Distribution Services has been paid at least $18.1 million in DOD contracts since 2008 that involve produce, dairy food and eggs, and has been awarded at least $274.8 million in contracts.

“Although, on paper, a nominee owner (and not Coconspirator 1) ‘owned’ Entity 1, Manzanares knew Coconspirator 1 to be the real owner of Entity 1,” the plea agreement says; a nominee owner is someone listed on public documents to keep the owner’s identity private.

The warehouse and distribution center was used to service a “small portion of one of the federal government contracts held by Entity 1.”

“At the time, the Prichard facility was in disrepair — dirty, leaking and incapable of servicing the volume of schools it was allegedly servicing,” the plea agreement says. “Manzanares conspired to completely transform the Prichard facility for the June 26 and June 27, 2024, audit. This transformation included cleaning, repairing and staging the facility.”

The staging took various forms, he admits in his plea agreement, including “changing signage and other documents to mislead auditors. Manzanares was instructed to, and did, change organizational charts so that instead of listing Coconspirator 1 as the founder and CEO, they listed the nominee owner.”

Before the audit, the plea agreement says, Manzanares was instructed by Coconspirator 1 to “get rid of” a map with pins showing areas the warehouse served or “take all the pins out.” Manzanares understood the directive was issued “because Coconspirator 1 wanted to mislead the auditors about the number of locations that the Prichard facility was servicing (and hide that a subcontractor was actually doing most of the deliveries).”

After staging the warehouse, the plea agreement says, “Manzanares and other coconspirators provided fake and fraudulent documents to auditors,” including fake rejection slips/dump tickets on products for which they could not provide traceback information, fake cleaning and sanitization logs on equipment that hadn’t been cleaned or sanitized and fake invoices and pricing documents that didn’t represent actual costs.

“While he (and others) were making these fake documents to provide to federal auditors, Manzanares called a coconspirator in the Middle District of Florida for assistance,” the plea agreement says of the impending audit by the DOD Defense Logistics Agency. “After conspiring with individuals in the Middle District of Florida to interfere with the Alabama DLA audit, Manzanares conspired to interfere with a DLA audit in the Middle District of Florida.” 

After the Alabama audit, Manzanares and others were told the DLA would be auditing a facility Entity 1 said was in Naples. “In reality, this facility did not exist — that is, Entity 1 did not have a food warehouse and distribution center in Naples.”

Manzanares conspired with others to transform a vacant warehouse in Naples that was for sale at the time “into an alleged food warehouse and distribution facility belonging to Entity 1,” the plea agreement says of an East Naples warehouse that property records show Oakes sold this June for $6.5 million after paying $5,000 in county code-enforcement fines.

Manzanares made a trip to Naples to meet with coconspirators and during that trip, records say, he shared his audit experience and “offered advice as to how best to interfere with” an audit scheduled for Sept. 9-10 in Naples.

Manzanares admits he advised other coconspirators they “needed to create not just fake policies” about how the business handled issues, including cleaning trucks, but to “create fake proof that they have been following the policies,” such as fake truck-cleaning logs. He also “advised coconspirators which food products they should not have on hand during the audit (berries), given the difficulties in meeting the food quality standards; he also offered advice regarding which products would be better to have on hand (apples and oranges).”

His plea agreement and others say the details summarize some of what occurred, not all of it. Manzanares pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. and will be sentenced Oct. 27. His attorney didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The coconspirators

Other co-conspirators include former Oakes Farms Vice President Steven Veneziano Jr.; Felipe Muñoz, who works at Oakes Farms Dairy; and Christopher Lee, a farm manager for entities controlled by a “farm organization” that farmed “thousands of acres of farmland,” including in Collier, Charlotte and Hendry counties.

In January, Marcelino DeLeon Jr., who owns LD Harvesting Inc., and Jacinto Luna, president of South Flo Harvesting Inc., which was dissolved last December, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and committing illegal monetary transactions. They’ll be sentenced Oct. 6.

State records show DeLeon set up South Flo Harvesting in December 2018 and was its president until August 2020, when its officers were amended, he left and Luna became president; the company was dissolved last September. Records show DeLeon also was president of Immokalee-based Deep South Harvesting Inc. and Luna was vice president, but they dissolved that company in April 2023.

Sometime before August 2020, DeLeon and Luna conspired with others to defraud CFAP and the FSA by misrepresenting various requirements, including that certain entities and people were engaged in eligible crop production, who had ownership interest in the “alleged production,” and crop production figures. They admitted conspiring with each other and a coconspirator in upper management for a farming conglomerate based in Collier, identified in another plea agreement as Veneziano.

DeLeon, Luna and Veneziano conspired with coconspirators to submit a fraudulent CFAP application to the FSA to receive more funds. Luna’s agreement says that included falsely representing the volume and types of specialty crops South Flo Harvesting sold between Jan. 15 and April 15, 2020, and falsely representing that South Flo had more owners, which qualified it for more money. In September 2020, Luna again conspired with Veneziano and DeLeon to fraudulently submit a CFAP-2 application that falsely represented South Flo had 2019 total commodity sales of $2.7 million. As a result, the plea agreement says, he received $994,216.96.

When FSA told South Flo it was going to be “spot checked,” the agreement says, Veneziano created fake purchase orders, bills of sale and contractual agreements that made it appear South Flo was a crop-producing entity. Fake invoices were created to match those “fake records” and Luna delivered the fake records to an FSA office. Luna then used $45,000 of the funds to purchase a vehicle.

Deleon’s plea agreement says he, assisted by Luna and Veneziano, created fraudulent CFAP-1 applications, including falsely representing LD Harvesting’s volume and types of specialty crops that were sold, as well as the volume of crops shipped but not sold and unpaid, from Jan. 15, 2020, to April 15, 2020, and Deleon falsely represented LD Harvesting had more owners to qualify for more money.

Around September 2020, DeLeon admits, he conspired with Luna and Veneziano to fraudulently submit a CFAP-2 application. Aided by Veneziano, he falsely represented LD Harvesting had 2019 commodity sales of more than $3.35 million and received $1,051,710.11 in CFAP funds; DeLeon used $12,497.89 to purchase a vehicle at an auction.

Luna agreed to forfeit $994,216.96, while DeLeon agreed to repay $1.05 million. They’ll be sentenced Oct. 6. Their attorneys, Desiree Wilson and Bob Foley, declined to comment before sentencing.

Ex-VP’s involvement

This month, Veneziano pleaded guilty to wire-fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy involving the CFAP fraud. His sentencing hearing will be held March 23, 2026. His plea agreement says that sometime before or about April 2020, he conspired with at least four others to defraud CFAP and the FSA by misrepresenting that certain entities or people were engaged in CFAP “eligible crop production,” misrepresenting who possessed ownership interest in the “alleged production” and misrepresenting crop production figures.

Veneziano’s coconspirators are identified as DeLeon; Luna; Felipe Muñoz, who owns Hurricane Harvesting of SWF Inc., which also is a trucking company formerly based in Estero; an Estero physical therapist; Coconspirator 5, who owned Company 4, a “purported farm” based in Alva; Coconspirator 6, who owned Company 5, a harvesting company based in North Fort Myers; and Coconspirator 7, who owned Company 6, a Bonita Springs company that was used to buy and sell produce.

Veneziano’s plea agreement says they conspired to fraudulently obtain CFAP proceeds for the physical therapist and Companies 4, 5 and 6 that were used to pay the business expenses of “Farm Enterprise 1, a group of associated business entities located in the Middle District of Florida that were involved in the farming, packing, shipping, retail market, food service and seafood distribution industries.” Those entities match those that Oakes owns, including Food & Thought, Seed to Table and Captain Jerry’s Seafood.

Veneziano’s plea agreement says he submitted fraudulent CFAP-1 and CFAP-2 applications for Veneziano Farms LLC and he and others misrepresented the actual ownership interests of farms to maximize payments; he listed his wife as a co-owner, allowing him to obtain more funds. They misrepresented the volume of produce sold, unpaid and shipped but not sold between Jan. 15, 2020, and April 15, 2020. For CFAP-2 applications, he and others misrepresented 2019 crop sales as more than $6 million.

“In return for assisting the other conspirators in submitting false and fraudulent CFAP-1 and CFAP-2 applications, he would and did receive a portion of the other conspirators’ fraudulently obtained CFAP proceeds,” his plea agreement says, noting some proceeds were used to pay Farm Enterprise 1’s expenses, which concealed the “nature, source, ownership and control of the fraud proceeds.”

In exchange for fraudulently obtaining CFAP money for the coconspirators, the plea agreement says Veneziano was paid at least $157,412.18 in cash and checks.

Companies 4, 5 and 6 received more than $2.7 million in CFAP payments, the plea agreement says, noting other coconspirators wrote checks to Veneziano or an associate for fictitious business expenses, which he admitted was money laundering. Veneziano received $109,912.18 in checks.

After being told they were going to be “spot checked,” Veneziano and the coconspirators admitted to creating fictitious purchase orders, bills of sale, invoices and contracts. He admits he and the other coconspirators would “perform acts and make statements to hide and conceal” the conspiracy, which netted Companies 4, 5 and 6 more than $2.367 million to pay Farm Enterprise 1’s business expenses.

Muñoz’s plea agreement admits he submitted CFAP applications showing Hurricane Harvesting of SWF Inc. made more than $1.78 million in 2019 commodity sales and received $412,993.49 in CFAP funds, $28,000 of which he used to buy a 2020 Chevrolet Silverado diesel truck. He pleaded to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and committing illegal monetary transactions and will be sentenced Sept. 29.

Insurance farming: ruining crops for gain

Lee’s plea agreement says he worked as a farm manager for “entities controlled by Coconspirator 1 from fall 2018 to December 2024, overseeing “thousands of acres of farmland,” including in Collier, Charlotte and Hendry counties. “Lee knew Coconspirator 1 to use straw farmers and nominee entities so that Coconspirator 1 could receive more (fraudulent) government proceeds.”

He admits he and coconspirators “submitted fraudulent applications” to obtain federal crop insurance policies and failed to follow “recognized good farming practices for certain insured crops.” Lee says they “purposefully deficiently” farmed certain insured farmland with the “purpose of filing false and fraudulent crop insurance claims.”

“Conspirators would and did submit, or cause to be submitted, photos of damaged crops that did not correspond to the farm and/or crop year of the alleged claim, and the defendant and other conspirators would and did submit, or cause to be submitted, spray logs that were fabricated and did not accurately reflect the agricultural chemicals that were actually used on the insured crop for which they were submitting a claim,” Lee’s plea agreement says.

Around 2020, Lee began acting as a straw farmer for Coconspirator 1, initially using nominee entity C Lee Farms LLC and then nominee entity C Lee Pepper Farms LLC, the plea agreement says, although he didn’t pay expenses or receive money for crop production, which meant he and his farms had no “insurable interest” — a requirement for insurance policies. He also signed forms saying he hadn’t been provided or promised any benefit to obtain the crop insurance policies.

“In reality, Coconspirator 1 had 100% interest in the crop (not Lee or Lee’s nominee entities), and Lee had been promised financial benefits to procure the crop-insurance policies,” his plea agreement says.

Around 2021 or 2022, Lee admits that at Coconspirator 1’s direction or knowledge, Lee began engaging in “insurance farming.” At the direction of or knowledge of Coconspirator 1, Lee would not follow “good farming practices” on certain insured crops and would minimize costs expended on certain insured crops, such as not properly fumigating or fertilizing so he could file an insurance claim and maximize their fraudulent profits.

“On one occasion, when Lee expressed embarrassment at how the (deficiently farmed) ‘insurance crops’ looked, Coconspirator 1 advised Lee that he should worry about the bottom line of the Farm Organization at the end of the year, not what others thought of Lee as a farmer/grower,” his plea agreement says.

Lee would submit or help submit false records and documents to support insurance claims and kept a “bull-- bank of photos” of damaged crops on his phone that he and coconspirators would submit for insurance. He’d also create fake spray logs with dates and chemicals used that didn’t follow good farming practices.

Lee knew the Farm Organization had an “insurance agent,” Coconspirator 2, who conspired with him and others in the crop-insurance fraud, which included backdating documents and delaying filing reports so insured crops couldn’t be examined by adjusters.

From 2019 to November 2024, C Lee Farms and C Lee Pepper Farms received more than $1.9 million in crop insurance indemnities, the plea agreement says, noting the federal government also subsidized about $514,033 of C Lee Farms and C Lee Pepper Farms’ crop insurance premiums and paid their approved insurance providers about $194,730 in administrative and operating expenses.

Lee also admits participating in other fraudulent schemes for Coconspirator 1, including CFAP fraud — even using his “parents as owners/managers on the CFAP applications to obtain more CFAP proceeds.” By adding them, he obtained $1 million more in CFAP funds.

C Lee Farms was an inactive company that was reactivated in August 2020 to commit CFAP fraud, the plea agreement says, admitting it didn’t produce crops or share in the risk of producing a crop. Lee admits he received more than $1.4 million in CFAP funds.

He also submitted two fraudulent applications to the Emergency Relief Program, which helps farmers after disasters, but due to the federal investigation, most payments were withheld and he only received $4,000.

“Most of the fraudulent government proceeds that Lee received — including crop-insurance proceeds, CFAP proceeds and ERP proceeds — benefited Coconspirator 1,” he admits in his plea agreement, noting they were used to pay Coconspirator 1’s farming expenses and debt or were provided to Coconspirator 1’s other businesses, or were used to buy assets, such as precious metals for Coconspirator 1 and other coconspirators. “But Lee was also rewarded for his part in the fraudulent schemes.”

His plea agreement admits Coconspirator 1 provided him with various benefits worth more than $1.5 million. He signed a plea agreement saying he would plead guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. His plea hearing was scheduled for Aug. 26, after press time.

His defense attorney, Laurin Mills, said it’s his practice not to discuss pending cases with the media, but added: “He has paid a bit over $700,000 of that amount. He paid that before there was even a case number for this matter.”

Court records show several defendants already have paid substantial portions of what they owe.