{"id":39606,"date":"2026-08-12T00:13:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T19:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39606"},"modified":"2026-08-12T00:13:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T19:13:00","slug":"thats-a-lot-of-green-taylor-farms-exec-allegedly-stole-32-million-from-produce-supplier-at-center-of-cyclospora-outbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39606","title":{"rendered":"That\u2019s a Lot of Green: Taylor Farms Exec Allegedly Stole $32 Million From Produce Supplier at Center of Cyclospora Outbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5750161\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5750161\" class=\"wp-image-5750161 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/am14.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP26212683816179.jpg\" alt=\"lettuce on the shelves of grocery store\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5750161\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ellen Schmidt\/AP Photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>A Taylor Farms exec and his wife allegedly gobbled up an entire salad bar&#8217;s worth of company green from the embattled produce business associated with<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/cyclosporiasis\/php\/surveillance\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> the national cyclospora outbreak<\/a>, siphoning off more than $32 million in a long running scheme, according to a stunning lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brian Thure<\/strong>, who worked as president of Taylor Farms Tennessee from 2012 to 2026, allegedly admitted on a recorded phone call in March that he used the cash for &#8220;gambling and women,&#8221; and was found to have added his wife <strong>Julie<\/strong>, her mother and her sister to the company payroll without permission, court papers revealed.<\/p>\n<p>The couple used the cash in part to buy a $5.5 million Hawaii home and a 400-acre ranch in Humboldt County, California, according to the litigation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Mr. Thure continues to expend stolen funds, demonstrating the reckless and irresponsible dissipation of [the company&#8217;s] assets,&#8221; Taylor Farms said <a href=\"https:\/\/htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/files\/1-6a6d2a467d4c3.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in Tennessee Federal Court papers<\/a> it filed against the Thures in June.<\/p>\n<p>Thure allegedly arranged for his wife and in-laws to collect $3 million, including his mother-in-law, who kept getting checks even though she retired in 2020, the company claimed in the legal papers.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor Farms <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/foxs-peter-doocy-asks-trump-about-parasite-causing-explosive-diarrhea-when-is-it-going-to-be-safe-to-eat-lettuce-again\/\">has been in the news for weeks<\/a> after thousands of Americans were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/food\/outbreaks-foodborne-illness\/investigation-15-state-outbreak-cyclospora-illnesses-iceberg-lettuce-july-2026\">sickened by cyclospora-contaminated lettuce<\/a> which was traced to one of the company&#8217;s suppliers. The parasite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/tv\/ms-now-host-blames-rfk-jr-s-maha-for-explosive-diarrhea-outbreak-poopy-poopy-lettuce\/\">causes explosive diarrhea<\/a> and can leave victims ill for weeks.<\/p>\n<p>While the allegations against Thure are not connected to the cyclospora outbreak, they paint a shocking picture of out-of-control fraud.<\/p>\n<p>Thure also allegedly used company funds to pay for numerous personal staff, Taylor Farms claimed.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These individuals included Mr. Thure\u2019s and Mrs. Thure\u2019s personal chef, personal driver, handyman, personal trainer, aquarium maintenance attendant, and an employee of Mrs. Thure\u2019s company, Bear Clover Consulting,&#8221; Taylor Farms claimed.<\/p>\n<p>A probe later confirmed the &#8220;individuals [were] hired to perform services exclusively for Mr. Thure and Mrs. Thure [and] never performed legitimate work&#8221; for the business.<\/p>\n<p>The company claims Thure admitted his wrongdoing in text messages, according to the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/11\/business\/former-taylor-farms-exec-accused-of-lavish-spending-on-hawaii-mansion-gambling-and-women\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New York Post<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Lawyers for the Thures did not immediately respond to Mediaite&#8217;s request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/thats-a-lot-of-green-taylor-farms-exec-allegedly-stole-32-million-from-produce-supplier-at-center-of-cyclospora-outbreak\/\">That\u2019s a Lot of Green: Taylor Farms Exec Allegedly Stole $32 Million From Produce Supplier at Center of Cyclospora Outbreak<\/a> first appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\">Mediaite<\/a>.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ellen Schmidt\/AP Photo A Taylor Farms exec and his wife allegedly gobbled up an entire salad bar&#8217;s worth of company green from the embattled produce business associated with the national cyclospora outbreak, siphoning off more than $32 million in a long running scheme, according to a stunning lawsuit. Brian Thure, who worked as president of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/am14.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP26212683816179.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}