Bismarck Tribune

By LAUREN DONOVBy LAUREN DONOVAN

Steady to high property values in North Dakota turned out to be a good thing for the federal government this week.

Farmland owned by Duane Huber, of Wimbledon, was sold at public auction Tuesday and Thursday.

Nearly 2,500 acres in several counties, including Hettinger and Adams, were auctioned off for a total of $1,279,000. Huber, who's halfway through a five-year sentence for farm program fraud, sold the land as part of an agreement to pay back the government.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Shon Hastings said the government would go along with Huber's relinquishment of land and assets, provided he's reasonably prompt. He owes the government $3.9 million, leaving another $2.6 million to go after the land sale.

She said land has more value when sold privately than after a government foreclosure.

Huber is in jail for 19 counts of farm fraud, which included money laundering and operating sham farms naming others as owners and collecting farm payments. His case remains on appeal.

The amount he was ordered to pay was reduced in September from an original jury assessment of $5.9 million. Huber's family said the only land that would be sold among considerable holdings was auctioned this week.

A combination of crop and Conservation Reserve Program acres in Hettinger County near New England drew the top dollar at $750 an acre, said Kevin Pifer, whose company Pifer Auction Co., handled the sales. The average for all acres was $525, he said.

Pifer said he's confident the auction exceeded the family's expectations for revenue and there won't be any more land sales. He said around 100 people attended the three separate auctions; one in Dickinson and the others in the eastern region for land in Griggs, Cavalier, Stutsman and Barnes counties.

He said bidders were a mix of farmers, hunters and investors.

Some people attended the auctions because of the mystique of the situation. Federal prosecutors described Huber's case as the biggest farm fraud in state history.

Hastings said government had set a minimum price before it would release the land to the high bidders. Pifer said that minimum was exceeded and successful bidders will get clear title and a closing before Dec. 14.

Huber's attorney Irv Nodland said proceeds from the sale will be held aside pending an appeal to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That court already sent the money judgment back for review and now Nodland wants a review of what he considers improper jury instructions.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511, or lauren@;westriv.com.)