September 11, 2026

Bob Coleman
Founder & Publisher

Fraud Friday: The Bank Vice President, 850 Cows and $2.8 Million Bill of Sale

The bill of sale said Craig Johnson bought 850 cow-and-calf pairs for $2.825 million from 7B Livestock in Evanston, Utah.

The seller said it never happened.

The owner’s name was on the August 30, 2025 bill of sale. The signature wasn’t his. By then, FCS Financial had advanced Johnson millions of dollars for cattle purchases. Instead of buying the cattle, Johnson was putting the money into his Charles Schwab investment account.

Johnson wasn’t just another borrower.

He was a vice president and loan officer at Community First Bank in Butler, Missouri. He had worked there since 2022. He also was a pastor at a church in El Dorado Springs until he was removed in 2025.

Johnson told investors he would buy cattle, sell them quickly and split the profit.

If an investor didn’t have the money, Johnson could arrange the financing himself.

Some investors borrowed from Community First Bank through Johnson and then gave the loan proceeds to Johnson. He never told the bank that its own loan officer was getting the money.

But Johnson didn’t buy the cattle.

After the money hit his Schwab account he repeatedly traded in high-risk, speculative small-cap and micro-cap stocks. He traded poorly. He lost all his money.

Johnson served as the Community First loan officer on approximately 29 loans and lines of credit totaling $4.48 million.

One $200,000 deal shows how it worked.

In November 2025, Johnson told one investor he needed $200,000 for a cattle deal. Johnson said each man would make $20,000 in about 90 days.

The investor needed financing, so Johnson arranged a $200,120 Community First Bank loan in the investor’s business name.

Once the money hit the business account, Johnson told the investor to wire $200,000 to another person, supposedly the seller of the cattle.

That same day, the $200,000 landed in Johnson’s bank account.

Johnson moved $150,000 to his stock account and $50,000 to an associate. He bought no cattle. Two months later, the investor received just $14,464 back.

FCS Financial made three much larger loans.

In 2024 and 2025, Johnson obtained three FCS loans totaling nearly $3.85 million. The financing included money to purchase 400 head of cattle, followed by loans for 550 cow-and-calf pairs and another 300 pairs.

More than $3.6 million ultimately went to Johnson. Millions went into his Schwab account instead of cattle.

Then Johnson gave FCS the $2.825 million bill of sale showing he had purchased 850 cow-and-calf pairs from 7B Livestock.

7B hadn’t sold him the cattle. Its owner hadn’t signed the bill of sale.

By February 2026, Johnson was also creating loans in other people’s names to pay off earlier loans. He admitted creating at least three loans without the named borrowers’ knowledge or approval. One was a $107,791.50 Community First loan placed in the name of an earlier victim who had never authorized it.

Johnson pleaded guilty September 9 to wire fraud, bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and making a false statement to a financial institution. He agreed to restitution of $9.395 million.