Northeast Iowa family sentenced in farmland loan scheme

CEDAR RAPIDS — Three members of a northeast Iowa family who got double federal loans on their farmland and then declared bankruptcy have been sentenced on various charges.

Fifty-three-year-old Aimee Rosenbaum of Lawler pleaded guilty to the conversion of property pledged to a farm credit agency and bankruptcy fraud. She was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison and ordered to pay $165,592.21 in restitution along with some $12,000 in fines and attorney fees.

Her 58-year-old husband Donald Rosenbaum of Cresco, was given two years probation and a $1,000r fine for pleading guilty to bankruptcy fraud. Their son 27-year-old Marshal Rosenbaum from Fredericksburg was sentenced to three months in prison and three months of home confinement — and ordered to pay $165,592.21 in restitution — after pleading guilty to the conversion of property pledged to a farm credit agency.

Evidence at a three-day sentencing hearing established that Aimee and Donald Rosenbaum historically farmed land in Chickasaw County. In late 2014, Aimee directed Marshal to apply for a crop loan with the USDA-FSA for the 2015 crop year on the pretense that Marshal would be taking over the farm due to purported health problems of Aimee and Donald.

After Marshal obtained a loan and pledged the farm’s 2015 crop to the USDA-FSA, Aimee applied for and obtained over $1.3 million in loans from a local bank on the representation that Aimee and Donald would continue to farm the land that year.

The 2015 crop thus was double-pledged without the knowledge of the U.S.D.A. or the bank. Aimee applied for the bank loans on Donald’s behalf using a power of attorney she had obtained from Donald. The Rosenbaums eventually defaulted on both loans and sold the double-pledged crop with little to no repayment. And the court information shows after the bank started foreclosure proceedings on the Rosenbaums’ farm, Aimee and Donald filed five bankruptcy petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Iowa.

Aimee and Donald each filed two additional bankruptcy petitions in bad faith and on the eve of scheduled Sheriff’s sales in state court in order to frustrate and delay the bank’s attempts to obtain repayment for its loans to Aimee and Donald. During one telephonic hearing in bankruptcy court in 2019, Aimee pretended to be Donald. The district court also found that Aimee submitted false evidence and testimony to the district court at her sentencing hearing.