A former Cooper County R-IV School District board member has pleaded guilty in federal court for her role in a wire fraud scheme that defrauded the school district out of $385,000.

Ashley Benny, 41, of Bunceton, Mo., waived her right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. magistrate judge Willie Epps to an information charging her with one count of wire fraud. 

“This successful prosecution is one of many federal fraud cases pursued under the leadership of President Donald Trump and through the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud,” said the U.S. jusice department. 

Cooper County R-IV is a school district in Bunceton, Mo., with approximately 100 students. While serving as the school board treasurer in 2019, Benny was asked to research alternative investment options for the school district’s unallocated savings. 

Ms Benny learned of a supposedly lucrative overseas “standby letter of credit” investment through a friend, which carried no risk of loss. 

The school district agreed to Ms Benny’s suggestion and voted to transfer $385,000 to a company called AgFluent. Prior to the board vote, Ms Benny failed to disclose that she opened and controlled the AgFluent bank account and hoped to personally profit from the investment. 

The investment was a scam, and the school district was defrauded out of $233,000 that AgFluent wired overseas. 

Contrary to AgFluent’s agreement with the school board, Ms Benny then helped transfer the remaining school district investment funds to pay various other entities and expenses owed by a co-conspirator, including nearly $60,000 for the purchase of two semi-trucks and a $10,000 escrow payment on a failed land purchase deal. 

The school district never received any return on its $385,000 investment.

By pleading guilty, Ms Benny admitted that she is directly responsible for $146,518 in loss to Cooper County R-IV. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Ms Benny must pay full restitution to the school district in this amount.

Under federal statute, Ms Benny is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole. 

The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the court will determine the defendant’s sentence based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. 

A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.