5W PR Illegally Impersonates Hechsher Tzedek Founder Rabbi Morris Allen – Agriprocessors "High Powered" PR Firm Goes To The Gutter

Not only did 5W impersonate Rabbi Allen – a federal crime, by the way – it also impersonated JVNA officer John Diamond and frequent FailedMessiah commenter Yochanan Lavie – also federal crimes.

5W also left multiple comments on this blog using many different aliases. The comments were often left on the same post and used to support each other and Agriprocessors. But all comments originated from 5W Public Relations, Agriprocessors PR firm, even though the commenter(s) presented himself as a non-affilliated observer.

This again calls into question both the honesty of the Rubashkin family, Agriprocessors owners, and the spokespeople Agriprocessors employs.

Will Agriprocessors "compliance officer" Jim Martin react to this clear violation of federal law by Agriprocessors paid spokespeople?

See the aliases along with the supporting documents below.

Please click all images to enlarge. Thank you.

The IP of the two "Rabbi Morris Allen" comments left here yesterday as shown by TypePad. (The IP is at the bottom of the email):

Unedited screenshot of American Registry for Internet Numbers search for IP 64.52.47.210:

The same screenshot with the result underlined in red:

Here is a partial list of 5W aliases used to comment here. All come from the same IP, as you can see in the two images that follow:

The same image with the IP underlined in red:

A complete list of all comments left as of 11:00 AM CDT 6-9-08 in PDF:

5W Aliases-1.pdf

Yochanan Lavie asked me to delete the comments that impersonate him. I did that, and did the same for Jon Diamond. Here's an image of the 5W Impersonation of John Diamond:

The same names using another IP:

Here is the whole 5W second IP aliases list in PDF:

5W 2nd IP Aliases-1.pdf

And here is 5W impersonating Yochanan Lavie from that same IP:

Comments

[bernice]

Welcome to the club, Surprised? NO!

At least there is consistency- That's why KAJ left Rubashkin-They found that everone affiliated with Rubashkin lies.A liar needs a good memory.

[steve]

Great work, Shmarya! I guess that's the last we'll be hearing from the trolls for a while. I wonder how much these incompetent fools get paid. Too bad. I'm gonna miss Jonathan the Trekkie, Bob Dylan and Norman "Rebbe in the Sky" Greenbaum.

[Ted]

I've been following this with great interest. I am not sure that what 5W has done is technically criminal, but maybe you and others should file complaints with the FTC? The website is https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/. Maybe if enough people complain, the government will give 5W a stern talking-to.

[steve]

The truth is that they weren't fooling anybody. The same day that the news came out that Rubashkin hired 5W, those strange posts with those phoney names started to appear. Shmarya's investigative work only confirms what we all suspected all along. I'm just surprised at how sloppy and incompetent these trolls were.

[John K. Diamond]

I've read this and had a very very long laugh.

It's beyond my comprehension how low a PR Firm can go.

They will get their just deserts.

Meanwhile, I will have a large "Libation" of George Dickel bourbon, the poor man's Jack Daniels, when I come home from work, today.

Many thanks, Shmarya, for bringing this fascinating tidbit to the attention of the general public.

The sooner Rubashkin and others are in prison, the better off EVERYONE is going to be.

[yo]

Jack Daniels is not bourbon.

[uncle joe mccarthy]

are these really fed crimes? movie studios do this all the time on boards like aicn and imdb...having plants post great reviews of bad movies

[John K. Diamond]

[Jack Daniels is not bourbon.

Posted by: yo | July 09, 2008 at 12:59 PM]

Jack Daniels is sour mash bourbon as is George Dickel.

Why not have a stiff one youself.

[yo]

You seem to know as little about bourbon as you do about kashrut.

http://www.straightbourbon.com/faq.html

[steve]

I have to agree with Yo on this one. Jack Daniels is not a bourbon, nor is George Dickel. All bourbon is American whiskey, but not all American whiskey is bourbon.

[John K. Diamond]

Then exactly what category is Sour Mash?

Is it in a category all it's own or a hybrid Bourbon.

Anyway, why does this have to be an issue here?

[John K. Diamond]

[You seem to know as little about bourbon as you do about kashrut.]

Hi Yo-Yo,

I've been following the Rubashkins Scandals in depth, since December 2004, so please don't insult my intelligence.

Not being a "Bourbon Expert", has nothing to do about the main issue at hand.

[yo]

You can follow the Rubashkin's scandals for as long as you want, it doesn't mean you know anything. You don't have to be a bourbon "expert" to know that Jack Daniels is not bourbon. I was just being funny, which apparently is not something you're capable of (as opposed to Yochanan, who writes those cute songs).

Bourbon has a definition. Kashrut has a definition. Corruption has a definition. You can throw out words all you want, but unless you are defining them correctly (or at least the way they are defined by those who ARE experts in them) then it is a meaningless game. You claim that the OU's corruption is well-documented on the PETA site. I have seen nothing of the sort. I see rhetoric, of which PETA is equally guilty. I see evidence that Agriprocessors is doing something (many things) wrong. I see no proof that the OU, on the whole, is corrupt.

If you want kosher meat, how are you going to get it without those who are experts in kashrut? If you want bourbon, how do you get it without those who are experts in making it? Calling Jack Daniels bourbon is like calling Purdue chicken kosher.

[steve]

Calling Jack Daniels bourbon is like calling Purdue chicken kosher.

No Yo, calling Rubashkin products kosher is like calling Perdue chicken kosher. You may know a thing or two about bourbon, but you clearly have no idea of what's going on at Rubashkin. The fraud and corruption has finally caught up with them, therefore they have resorted to using these sleazy PR firms to defend them. That is why the KAJ finally said "enough already" and that is why the OU is corrupt for NOT saying "enough already"!

[yo]

I didn't call Rubashkin's kosher. Don't put words in my mouth.

So hiring a sleazy PR firm is now equivalent to corruption? That makes food not kosher? As I have said repeatedly, there are many problems that have to be corrected, and the hiring of Juda Engelmayer and 5W is a sign that Agriprocessors is more concerned about its image than the facts on the ground. But to be fair, they have ALWAYS used sleazy PR firms-they went from Lubicon to 5W (or added 5W). Nothing really changed, they just hired another whore. That doesn't, in and of itself, prove that there is corruption or that the food is treif.

[steve]

I didn't say that hiring the PR firms makes the food unkosher. Read my comments here and on the last post about Uri Lzedek where I outlined all the kashrus issues. The main issue is neemanus-trust and integrity which is clearly lacking.

[yo]

So you are questioning the neemanus of the entire OU? Is the OU's hashgacha good enough for you on Empire? On Wise Organic? On Fleischmann's margarine? Agriprocessors, I agree, has no neemanus. Neither does the owner of any other company under hashgacha-we rely on the hashgacha organization's neemanus. If you are questioning the OU's entire neemanus then you are going to have to do a better job proving that they are actually guilty of knowing that there were KASHRUS violations that they willfully ignored.

[DK]

Steve wrote,

No Yo, calling Rubashkin products kosher is like calling Perdue chicken kosher.

Chicken is pareve.

[steve]

The OU is strictly relying on the neemanus of MM Weissmandl and MMW is relying on the neemanus of Rubashkin. All get compensated very nicely. One hand washes the other. At Empire, the OU relies on the KAJ hashgacha. They are nothing more than a rubber stamp or a licensing company in these cases. This is not the first time that the OU has looked the other way(see Le Marais scandal,cholov akum coverup) When the truth is exposed for all to see, they will simply blame Weissmandl and say that "they didn't know".

[steve]

Here's more OU lies:

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2007/07/ou-lies-meat-ho.html

They have as much neemanus as Rubashkin=ZERO. Unless the product has another reliable hechser or doesn't need one to begin with, I wouldn't eat it with just an OU. They are nothing more than a licensing company.

[zach]

YUCK! I just installed Helvetica on my machine and you apparently default to that (body tag in theme-curves.css; actually it defaults to lucida grande first) It looks horrible! If you don't have this font, I suggest you get it and see what the blog looks like. Otherwise, move arial to the front of the list...

[A reader]

"Steve wrote,

No Yo, calling Rubashkin products kosher is like calling Perdue chicken kosher.

Chicken is pareve."

HUH?

[steve]

DK wrote that idiotic "pareve" statement. Not me. Just for the record.

[Larry Lennhoff]

Have you contacted Rabbi Morris to let him know this has happened? If not I suggest you do so - he may want to pursue his own interest in beit din or secular court.

[Larry Lennhoff]

Oops Rabbi Allen rather than Rabbi Morris, no disrespect intended.

[Shmarya]

He knows. I contacted him first to see if he left any comments and then I checked the IP, etc.,, after that.

[Larry Lennhoff]

Oops Rabbi Allen rather than Rabbi Morris, no disrespect intended.

[Joel]

As far as I know, it is not a federal crime to impersonate someone in an online posting. State? maybe. But not federal.

[Joel]

I love cut and paste!!! The 4-h thing really threw me for a loop.

Under federal law, pretending to be "an officer or employee acting under the authority of the United States" in order to demand or obtain "any money, paper, document, or thing of value" can result in a fine as well as imprisonment for up to three years (18 U.S.C.A. § 912). Like state false impersonation statutes, the federal law also seeks to protect interests such as the dignity and prestige of individuals, especially those who hold federal office. Federal statutes also prohibit other types of impersonation, including pretending to be a U.S. citizen; pretending to be a U.S. officer or employee attempting to arrest or search a person or search a building; pretending to be a creditor of the United States or a foreign official; and pretending to be an agent or member of 4-H or of the Red Cross.

[Shmarya]

I've been told it's a federal crime if the intent is to harm.

[yidandahalf]

What is amazing to me is that 5W wasn't that good. For the ammount of money rubash-in must be paying or agreed on, they are not even second rate. And I am completely, uncynically serious. They are not that good. He NEVER CEASES to amaze me. A real bum.

[Carol Ann Varley]

A reader was confused about 'parve'.

According to Jewish Dietary Laws, it refers to food which can be eaten with both meat and dairy.

Fish, eggs, fruits, and vegetables are parve. For example, the word is printed on cans of Bumble Bee tuna for the kosher consumer.

Whoever posted chicken was parve was pulling your chicken leg.

If this shiksa got it wrong, please correct me.

Also, what kind of a PR firm calls itself 5W? It sounds like a commercial lubricant.

[Yochanan Lavie]

5W only repeated my basic list of standard Rubbishcan excuses. Maybe I should work for them (the real me, LOL). Spoofing me was like Bart Simpson prank calling Moe's; very sophomoric.

I now know what 5W stands for:
1. willful
2. woeful
3. wimpy
4. wishful-thinking
5. washed-up

[Yosef ben Matitya]

them lubavitzers, are unable to utter a word of truth.
if they say it's morning, look for signs of evening.
as to rubbishcans, kishmoy ken hu. Trash residue @ the bottom of of a rubbish heap. they are all "umuuvas lo yukhal liskon". the twisted that cannot be straightened

YL, this is my 5W list:

1)Woeful
2)Wretched
3 Wicked
4 Wrongminded
5)Windbags

[steve]

6:45PM was me.

Carol Ann, thanks for the definition of "pareve". I don't know what we'd do without you.

[jewishwhistleblower]

5WPR Flacks Get So Freaking Busted Impersonating People Online

see: http://gawker.com/tag/5wpr/?i=5023555&t=5wpr-flacks-get-so-freaking-busted-impersonating-people-online

[jewishwhistleblower]

More on 5WPR (Agriprocessors' PR firm):

http://gawker.com/tag/5wpr/

[jewishwhistleblower]

The RCA has used 5WPR.

see: http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?ID=100607

[Kishkeman]

http://ronntorossian.com/?p=152 I found this link from the head of 5WPR to be amusingly hypocritical.

[Harold F]

Carol,

Don't use the word shiska. It's a despicable word that needs to be expunged from the language.

[kishkeman]

In other Agri news today there is this:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880709031

[Isa]

Regarding:
""""Chicken is pareve.""""
Biblically, chicken (fowl) was not subject to to having a need to be schecht by a schochet.
Maybe it had the status of fish
Rabbinically that changed.
Now on the other hand if one only eats chicken, turkey as meat and refrains from beef etc then there is a odd ball rare form of a word _______vegetarian that I only seen once on a placard at the FDA office in Minneapolis years ago before that office closed up.

[reader]

Hey Yochanan Lavie:

Sue them for all they're worth!!

[Yochanan Lavie]

Thanks, Reader. But I think the Feds might do that for me.

[Stephen Mendelsohn]

BS"D

What amazes me is the the incompetence of 5W in the way they put up all these posts. They could not even spell Rabbi Allen's last name correctly the first time, which was the giveaway to me that something fishy was going on. Moreover, one would think that any PR firm trying to influence the discussion on a blog would have the common sense to use multiple computers with different IP addresses, one for each pseudonym, to better camouflage their activities. Anyone who has ever edited Wikipedia knows that their administrators keep track of IP addresses and that the site encourages registration by logging the IP addresses of those who do not register on the site. Here, for instance, is the revision history page on Wikipedia for AgriProcessors:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Agriprocessors&action=history

I was once temporarily blocked from editing Wikipedia by an administrator who mistakenly thought I was a sockpuppet of someone else. It may have partly been a result of editing from a couple of different computers with different IP addresses. At the time, I did not even know what a sockpuppet was. This was before Whole Foods CEO John Mackey got caught sockpuppeting under the pseudonym "Rahodeb" on blogs trying to talk up his company and talk down Wild Oats so that he could take them over at a lower stock price. Given the history of such sockpuppets being outed, it boggles the mind to think that such a "high powered" firm wouldn't do a lot more to try to cover their tracks over the net.

At least Mackey publicly apologized for his sockpuppeting on Yahoo! Finance and admitted his actions were inappropriate. Will the 5W sockpuppet(s) come forward and admit their misdeeds, or is it that anyone associated with Rubashkin simply has no concept of genuine teshuvah, which involves confession of one's sins first, followed by a real change in behavior and a commitment never to repeat the misdeed?

[Stephen Mendelsohn]

BS"D

http://www.forward.com/articles/13733/

According to the Forward, Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5W PR, is accusing Shmarya of being a long-time opponent of his agency. I just entered "5W" in the Google search box at the top of this page and the only posts about 5W PR I could find are dated from the time the firm was hired last month by AgriProcessors. One more demonstration of their total lack of credibility, especially when Torrossian claims 5W PR didn't make the posts.

[Stephen Mendelsohn]

BS"D

Is Ronn Torrossian confusing this blog with Gawker, which has an endless series of posts against 5W PR?

http://gawker.com/tag/5wpr/

[Stephen Mendelsohn]

BS"D

http://gawker.com/365723/the-story-of-ronn-torossian

Pretty vulgar isn't this Ronn Torrosian character. And these supposedly frummer-than-thou Rubashkins hiring them when halacha is supposed to oppose nivul peh, in this case calling women the c-word as Rubashkin's hired thug repeatedly has -- this is the height of hypocrisy. But then they treated female employees at AgriProcessors as mere c___s to be molested, so why not hire such a crassly vulgar sexist pig?

[Julie Sandburg]

Trying to picture Rabbi Allen seriously using "ROFLMAO" and failing...