“We’re mad at ourselves for getting suckered” into a Ponzi scheme concocted by the late Brian K. McClain, one of his investors told Southwest Ledger. “We got screwed.”
McClain was “one of the nicest guys you’d ever meet,” the investor recalled. He was “a nice fella” who was always willing to “help out” and “didn’t really lead a lavish lifestyle.”
He became president of the U.S. Team Penning Association. Created to preserve the “traditional skill sets of working cow horses and handlers,” penning and sorting challenge riders and their mounts to compete in a timed event “to identify, move and pen specific cattle from a herd in a limited amount of time,” the USTPA website relates.
“After knowing us for two or three years, he knew we all had cattle and he asked us to invest some money in a feedlot-styled cattle operation.” McClain bought cattle in “what turned out to be Bernie Madoff-style deals,” the investor said.
“I was leery of it. I put in a small amount but got halfway out last year.” Many others didn’t. “Some were bilked out of their life savings. I know some who lost millions. There will be people declaring bankruptcy over this.”