Cody Easterday

SPOKANE — Ex-Washington cattleman Cody Easterday, convicted of fraud, has sued his main victim, Tyson Fresh Meats, alleging the meat packer reneged on a deal to split profits from a campaign to sell “Cody’s Beef” to Japanese consumers.

Easterday supplied at least 65,000 head of cattle to Tyson for resale to Japanese food-giant Nippon Ham, according to the suit filed Dec. 5 in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington.

Easterday was pictured on the package and saying, in Japanese, “I raised it!”

Tyson promised to share the profits evenly, but has not made payments or accounted for how the campaign fared, the suit alleges.

“This lawsuit was filed because Mr. Easterday is attempting to recover the significant damages he is entitled to,” lead counsel Charles R. Macedo, a partner in the New York law firm Amster, Rothstein & Ebenstein LLP, said in an email.

The suit largely restates claims Easterday made shortly before he was sentenced in October to 11 years in federal prison for defrauding Tyson out of $233 million.

A Tyson spokesperson declined to comment on the new lawsuit. In a court filing before Easterday’s sentencing, Tyson dismissed the claim as a bid to minimize the company’s losses.

Tyson called the “Cody’s Beef” campaign a “short term and ultimately not very successful co-branding effort in Japan.”

Easterday, 51, pleaded guilty to wire fraud, admitting he billed for about 265,000 head of cattle he didn’t actually deliver to Tyson’s beef plant in Pasco. He defrauded an investor, Segale Properties of Tukwila, Washingon, out of $11 million.

In a plea deal, Easterday agreed to repay Tyson and Segale. The victims received some money from the liquidation of Easterday’s farming and ranching empire in Eastern Washington. Easterday still owed Tyson $170.5 million when he was sentenced.

Easterday’s lawsuit seeks a ruling that Tyson breached an oral contract and a trial to determine damages. Previously, Easterday’s attorney, Carl Oreskovich, estimated Tyson owed Easterday $100 million for the Japanese venture.

Easterday participated in “photo shoots,” provided tours to Nippon executives and authorized Tyson to register “Cody’s Beef” with the Japanese patent and trademark office, the suit states.

Easterday provided beef to resale to Nippon between November 2015 and December 2020, the same month Tyson confronted Easterday about billing for cattle that didn’t exist.