FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) — A former Oakes Farms vice president accused of stealing millions from the company is now accusing Oakes Farms founder Alfie Oakes of directing widespread federal fraud schemes for years, according to a response filed on Friday to a civil lawsuit.
The allegations come following a more detailed amended complaint, filed last month by Oakes Farms Inc., Oakes Farm OP LLC and South Florida LLC against Oakes Farms’ former vice president, Steven Veneziano, accusing him of stealing “millions of dollars from Plaintiffs by manipulating invoices, forging checks, wiring funds to his personal accounts, and diverting funds payable to Plaintiffs into his personal accounts.”
“Veneziano never stole from Plaintiffs, he stole for the Plaintiffs and Alfie Oakes,” court records allege.
The lawsuit claims Veneziano used his position of authority to gain unrestricted access “to accounts, information, and administration” — and “exploited it all.”
It also accuses Veneziano, along with two of his dissolved companies — Veneziano Farms LLC and Veneziano Property Management LLC — of stealing approximately $12.5 million from Oakes Farms.
“To be clear, this is not a case where an employee charged a questionable meal or family outing,” the lawsuit cites. “Veneziano paid for gambling trips to Las Vegas and subscriptions to pornographic websites.”
In the response, Veneziano denies he stole from the company and instead claims many of the actions outlined in the lawsuit were carried out “at the direction of Alfie Oakes” and for the benefit of Oakes Farms and its related entities.
The filing accuses Oakes Farms and founder Alfie Oakes of benefitting from numerous fraud schemes involving “government contract fraud, government relief program fraud, crop insurance fraud, wire fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering.”
Veneziano’s response can be found here.
“During Veneziano’s tenure with Oakes Farms, Veneziano, Plaintiffs and Alfie Oakes engaged in numerous fraudulent schemes, at the direction of Alfie Oakes, for the benefit of Plaintiffs, Alfie Oakes, Veneziano, and other coconspirators,” the response cites.
The legal battle comes after federal agents conducted several search warrants on Oakes Farms properties in 2024 — leading to indictments and guilty pleas from at least five former Oakes Farms enterprise employees— including Veneziano — who has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and is awaiting sentencing.
Oakes and his companies have not been charged with any wrongdoing.
In a text message on Monday, Alfie Oakes told WINK Investigates he wants to respond but is limited by the ongoing federal investigation.
“There is so much information that I would love to give you,” Oakes said in a text message to WINK Investigates Reporter Olivia Jean. “Because of the ongoing federal investigation, our attorneys are instructing me to be silent.”
Oakes added he is, “Looking forward to the truth coming out as this investigation unfolds.”
Oakes Farms attorney, Jordan Shaw, told WINK Investigates, “The complaint alleges, in painstaking detail, Mr. Veneziano’s elaborate scheme to defraud Oakes Farms and South Florida Produce. We stand on those allegations and intend to prove them.”
In a statement, Veneziano’s attorney, Nicole Hughes Waid, said, “The Plaintiffs filed a frivolous lawsuit to intimidate our client and promote a fake narrative to the public that they are victims. Nothing is further from the truth, and Mr. Veneziano has the receipts to prove it.”
Waid went on to say, “The evidence provided in our Answer is just the tip of the iceberg. Mr. Veneziano has text messages, emails, bank records, and other evidence that will establish the facts. He looks forward to the discovery process, and we look forward to defending our client in court. Mr. Veneziano will also continue to cooperate with federal law enforcement until justice prevails.”
Allegations involving “straw entities”
In Veneziano’s response to the lawsuit, court records claim Alfie Oakes directed the creation and use of “straw entities” and “straw owners” to conceal ownership interests and facilitate fraud schemes.
The filing accuses Oakes of directing the creation of “numerous straw entities” to “employ sophisticated schemes to defraud the United States government, insurance companies, business partners, and civil litigants.”
“This straw scheme was ordinary and customary business for Oakes Farms to defraud numerous government programs for the benefit of Oakes Farms and its owner, Alfie Oakes,” Friday’s response to the lawsuit cites. “Alfie Oakes also directed straw companies be used to acquire millions of dollars in fraudulent crop insurance claims for the benefit of Oakes Farms, himself, and his coconspirators.”
Back in August, Chrisopher Lee, a former Oakes Farms manager, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud in federal court. Court documents cite Lee used the companies he owned — C Lee Farms, LLC, and C Lee Pepper Farms, LLC — to act as straw farmers and engage in “insurance farming.”
Court documents cite this resulted in over a million crop-indemnity, crop-insurance premiums, and other crop-related payouts.
Veneziano’s response to the lawsuit claims “Alfie Oakes appointed his brother Eric Oakes and Oakes’ business partner’s wife, to act as straw owners of the Organic General Store in Naples, which is a clothing store at Food and Thought 1 Grocery Store, for the purpose of filing fraudulent applications for government relief funds through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (“CFAP”).
The CFAP program awarded money to livestock and agricultural producers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a separate federal case, Veneziano pleaded guilty to assisting local business owners with falsifying applications for CFAP funding.
WINK Investigates called Eric Oakes for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.
Farmer Joe’s ownership put into question
Veneziano’s response to the lawsuit also claims Alfie Oakes “appointed a straw owner of Farmer Joe’s, a farmers’ market-style grocery store in Cape Coral, Florida, to conceal his ownership interest from Publix Super Markets, as his ownership interest would be a breach of his agreement not to compete with the super market chain.”
According to the filed response, ownership of the company behind Farmer Joe’s was split between Alfie Oakes (51%), Steven Veneziano (45%), and another individual, Glen Lee Snyder (4%), used as a straw owner.
Snyder is listed as the current owner and store manager of Farmer Joe’s, according to its website.
WINK Investigates called Snyder for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.
In 2020, WINK News reported on the opening of Joe V’s Farm Market, located at 1401 SW Pine Island Road. That same address is listed for Farmer Joe’s, business records show.
“Despite Veneziano’s significant labor investment and cash contributions to the construction of Farmer Joe’s, named after Veneziano’s grandfather, Alfie Oakes altered documents to steal Veneziano’s ownership interest in the company and transfer it to a private trust,” court records allege.
Veneziano’s attorney provided texts she says are between her client and Alfie Oakes. Veneziano wrote to Alfie in 2020 saying in-part, “My grandfather had never gotten the chance to open the store he wanted to after the family store split up and then he went on to run the chain of stores called Everybody’s Markets. Would be cool to use that name, but we certainly don’t have to.”
Oakes responded, “It’s not quiet as farmy as I was thinking… But it might resonate well in Cape Coral.” Oakes went on to say, “Haven’t really been able to come up with anything that would be better and with the significance of the name it would be cool to go with.”
In texts sent in 2022, provided by Veneziano’s attorney, Alfie writes to Veneziano, “Haven’t received any Farmer Joe money for three weeks.”
View the texts here.
Court records show Veneziano admitted to manipulating invoices and accounting systems at Oakes Farms — but says it was done at Oakes’ direction to facilitate “crop insurance fraud and tax evasion schemes” and that “Plaintiffs and Alfie Oakes financially benefitted the most from these fraudulent schemes.”
Court documents also cite Veneziano admitted to altering “thousands of Famous Systems entries” (resource planning software) but claims the entries were manipulated “at the direction of Alfie Oakes” to commit:
- Crop insurance fraud
- Insurance carrier fraud
- Country-of-origin fraud
- Tax evasion
- Bank fraud
- Money laundering
- Multiple government relief program frauds.
Additional allegations against Alfie Oakes
The filed response also alleges Oakes Organics — which supplies products sold at Food & Thought stores — lost its USDA organic certification in 2019, but claims accounting entries were later altered “to make it appear that the seeds being planted were organic.”
WINK Investigates independently verified through the USDA Organic Integrity Database that Oakes Organics’ certification was suspended on March 14, 2019.
Court records allege fake political rallies and protests were allegedly funded against candidates opposed to Oakes.
In addition, the defense states, “Veneziano is the true owner of South Florida Produce LLC and he did not authorize the filing of the instant suit.”
The filed response further claims employees’ wives, relatives, and friends were added to payrolls to fraudulently inflate employee counts for government relief programs.
WINK Investigates contacted several of those individuals, who are named in the filing, but did not receive any immediate responses.
Widespread federal investigation connection
The filed response claims Veneziano cooperated with federal investigators before the Nov. 2024 raids on Oakes Farms properties conducted by agencies, including the Secret Service and IRS.
According to the filed response, Veneziano fled Florida shortly before the raid because he “feared for his safety and the safety of his family.” He now resides in California.
WINK Investigates emailed the U.S. Attorney’s Office asking whether Alfie Oakes is currently under investigation, whether additional charges are being considered as part of a broader federal probe involving former Oakes Farms employees, and whether prosecutors could comment on allegations in the filing involving alleged fraud schemes, shell entities, accounting manipulation, and government relief programs.
“The investigation is ongoing, therefore, we are unable to comment,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in an email.
The civil lawsuit remains ongoing.
WINK Investigates will update you as we learn more.
Clinton Mora is a reporter for Trending Insurance News. He has previously worked for the Forbes. As a contributor to Trending Insurance News, Clinton covers emerging a wide range of property and casualty insurance related stories.