The Missouri Department of Agriculture held an informational meeting Wednesday for farmers who were interested in learning about the seizure of the assets of Cathy Gieseker, an Audrain County grain dealer.

Chris Klenklen, the head of the audit staff at the Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) started the meeting by giving a timeline of events.

Audit Timeline

Feb. 9 Missouri Dept. Agriculture (MDA) audit

Feb.12 Audit confirmations mailed out

Feb.17 First person comes forward

Feb.18 Gieseker's grain dealer license suspended

Feb.20 MDA and Attorney General's office file a petition to seize assets

He said Feb. 17 was the day the first person came forward anonymously. The Department suspended Gieseker's license the next day, and prohibited her from dealing any more grain.

Since then, Klenklen said the Department has been hard at work, "Since the 20th, and all over the weekend, we've worked to find assets. We've served every terminal elevator that we know she's done business at, we have secured what we think are the record. We hope we have all the records, we have froze accounts at all the banks, we will put the money in an escrow account and hold it."

Klenklen said that the investigation is ongoing, and the exact number of farmers affected is not clear yet, but so far 100 farmers have come forward.

Based on only the first 100 phone calls the Department received, the potential damages are in the millions.

"One hundred farmers, one hundred claimants, and we've got a round figure of about $15 million. We know there's a lot of folks here we haven't had a chance to talk to."

Misti Preston, a Public Information Administrator for the Department of Agriculture says it could potentially affect all of the counties east of Highway 63, and north of I-70 all the way up to the Iowa state line, and even reach as far as parts of Illinois.

Klenklen says the Department of Agriculture is trying to find where the money went.

"We are on a hunt for assets, and we will look everywhere we can to try and determine where all the assets have gone. Where she's moved them, or if she's not moved them, what can we find that we can get our hands on, convert it to cash, put it in the escrow account," said Klenklen.

Cathy Gieseker was not at Wednesday's meeting in Martinsurg and there was no answer at her business and no way to leave a message.

The investigation into Gieseker is ongoing, no charges have been filed.