Ranchers sue bank over ‘cattle rustling’

Banks and cattle rustling. Not words that often land in the same sentence, at least not in the last few centuries. But a group of cattle producers, stockyards operators and cattle auction houses sued Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank over what the group claims is Fifth Third’s participation in a company’s scheme that allegedly bilked cattle companies out of $30 million. The group called the activity of New Albany, Ind.-based Eastern Livestock “modern-era cattle rustling,” according to a complaint filed Nov. 2 in Allen Circuit Court in Allen County, Ky., near Bowling Green.Fifth Third was involved in a $32.5 million structured financing of Eastern Livestock, according to the lawsuit...more