OU Head: Rubashkin Got "A Raw Deal…[He] Never Fleeced A Single Customer…If Anyone Is Deserving Of Sympathy, Support And Leniency, It Is Sholom Rubahskin."
…"Sholom Rubashkin has been given a raw deal," concurred the OU's Rabbi Menachem Genack. "The excessive prosecution of this man is staggeringly disproportionate to his mistakes. Genack noted that Rubashkin "maintains his innocence of bank fraud charges, and indeed, anyone who had dealings with him can vouch for his integrity."
He added said that in his own visits to the plant, he never saw the slightest "cutting of corners in either halacha or ethical conduct. USDA inspectors were in the plant at all times, and they never reported a violation of any kind," he noted.
"Few media outlets described the extraordinarily good side to this man, his generosity and kind-heartedness toward everyone, Jew and non-Jew," Genack said. "The Yated is an outstanding exception and deserves tremendous credit for rallying behind Sholom Mordechai."
Genack believes that "whatever lapses may have occurred under duress when he was scrambling to save his company, do not warrant the kind of excessive prosecution and lifelong punishment that should be reserved for hard-core criminals."
"This was a man who—unlike a notorious all-time swindler people like to compare him with—lived modestly, was kind and trustworthy, never fleeced a single customer. Even after the raid, under impossible pressures, he kept his payments to the bank coming punctually. To keep his commitments, he and his family mortgaged everything they owned. "If anyone is deserving of sympathy, support and leniency, it is Sholom Rubahskin."…
Rubashkin - Burning Questions
By Debbie Maimon for Yated Ne'emanNothing exposes the government's flawed, overzealous prosecution of Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin as much as the prosecution's decision last week to drop all 72 immigration charges against him.
This move followed just a few days after Rubashkin's conviction on bank fraud charges, in a trial marked by bizarre irregularities and one-sided rulings from the bench that all but pre-determined a guilty verdict.
The move to dismiss immigration charges took many by surprise. Prosecutor Peter Deegan's reasoning was that a conviction on immigration charges would be completely "eclipsed" by the severe sentence Rubashkin faces for bank fraud. He also cited the expense of a second prolonged trial and the inconvenience to the witnesses.
The decision was hailed by defense attorney Guy Cook, who said the charges should have been dismissed long ago, and that the dismissal vindicated his client. Yet many who followed the case closely suspect the prosecution's move was self-serving.
They feel it was driven by an unwillingness to hold a trial that might end up focusing unwanted scrutiny on the government's actions in connection with the raid, and the excessive prosecution of Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin.
How Prosecutors Won Their Case
How were charges deemed so serious that they were used to justify the devastating raid at AgriProcessors so simply dropped? Weren't immigration violations part of the very backbone of the government's case?
The charges of harboring aliens and aiding them in document fraud were in fact responsible for almost half of the 163-count indictment against Rubashkin. Not only that, but the now-dismissed charges, although they were supposed to be barred from the fraud trial, actually played a key role in the jury's guilty verdict.
U.S. Prosecutor Peter Deegan acknowledged as much in his motion to dismiss: "The jury's verdicts on several of the fraud counts were premised, at least in part, upon the defendant knowingly [misleading] the bank with regard to harboring undocumented aliens…" he wrote.
Jurors already heard much of the evidence of Rubashkin's guilt in regard to immigration violations, and even "premised" their verdict on it. The "public interest would not be served" by repeating the process, Deegan said.
Wait. Let's have that again.
Prosecution rides roughshod over Judge Reade's ruling to exclude immigration testimony from the bank fraud trial; sneaks in many hours of such testimony; uses it to paint the defendant as an arrogant lawbreaker which persuades the jury to return a sweeping guilty verdict—only to drop all 72 immigration charges afterwards?
Simply put, the prosecution won a conviction that will send a man to jail for life based in large measure on charges that have now been totally dismissed!
If that isn't scandalous enough, what of the prosecution's manipulation of the jury by mixing immigration-violation testimony into the fraud trial —with an apparent green light from the bench despite Reade's earlier ruling forbidding it?
The likelihood of confusing the jury by mixing the charges is precisely why Judge Reade ruled they should be separated. Yet, over the defense's objections, she allowed the testimony, ignoring three defense motions calling for a mistrial.
This is the same judge who not only authorized the raid on AgriProcessors, but helped prepare the plea bargain scripts that illegal immigrants were forced to use, and worked actively with prosecutors in expediting their sentencing.
What is one to make of this breathtaking disregard of due process, the most basic and fundamental right of every citizen in this country? Read on. It only gets worse.
'Dirtying Up' The Defendant
Defense attorney Guy Cook protested the prosecution's tactics of "dirtying up" the defendant with unrelated charges in order to criminalize him in the jury's mind.
Prosecutors were required to prove that Rubashkin had "criminal intent" in his dealings with the bank, but lacked the evidence to support fraud and money-laundering charges. Their strategy was to prop up a weak case by selling the jury a sinister profile of a man who played fast and loose with immigration laws, by harboring aliens, conspiring to engage in Social Security fraud, and other immigration-related crimes.
These tactics worked, but only because Judge Reade made sure they were not undermined by defense witnesses who challenged their credibility. These witnesses included lawyers, CPA's and ordinary citizens who came forward to prove that Rubashkin had hired lawyers to help resolve his immigration problems prior to the raid.
Their testimony exposed the falsity of the charges of bank fraud and money-laundering.
Yet the jurors never heard a word of their testimony. They were sent out of the courtroom while these witnesses took the stand.
Cook said this subversion of the jury process would be a key argument in Rubashkin's appeal. "The government poisoned the financial trial with prejudicial evidence from the immigration charges, which for their own reasons they have now dismissed," he said.
Putting ICE Raid On Trial
Critics of the government's ICE raid on AgriProcessors, including immigration lawyers and activists for immigration reform, were deeply disappointed by the dropping of charges. They had hoped to use the trial as a platform to expose the mistreatment of the men and women who were seized and prosecuted. Sharp criticism of the unprecedented harshness that characterized the raid continues to hound ICE, and has led to the formation of a congressional subcommittee to investigate the matter.
Many say the trial's dismissal, in addition to avoiding unnecessary expense and inconvenience, saves ICE authorities from being "put on trial," themselves. Having their actions in connection with the raid subjected to scrutiny might open up a Pandora's Box.
Critics want to know how and why the huge, coordinated effort that required intense planning and vast resources before it swooped down in May 2008, seizing about 400 workers, was first launched. Who gave the go-ahead to this enforcement action? Who wrote the "stage instructions" for shotgun-wielding agents in heavy riot gear to break down doors and corral the workers, whisking them away in chains to makeshift courts and detention centers in northern Iowa?
At this far-flung location, far from their homes and family members, the immigrants, most of whom spoke no English and were given minimal translation, were pressed to plead guilty and serve five to 12 months in prison, or face a maximum of 10 years and a $250,000 fine at trial.
Their plea agreements had been pre-scripted by government authorities, one of whom was Judge Linda Reade, and required the immigrants to admit to aggravated identify theft—a charge that carries serious prison time—and to cooperate with the government in helping to prosecute others.
Even after serving their five-month sentence, the ordeal continued for some 40 of the "convicts," recalled against their will as material witnesses in the charges now being dropped.
Witnesses Begged To Be Deported
Now that they are no longer needed, they are begging to be deported. They have no livelihoods, homes or community to return to in this country. After more than a year in legal limbo and electronic shackles, with the families they supported enduring severe hardship, they have only one desire: to be allowed to leave the country and rejoin their families in Guatemala and Mexico.
Local community leaders Decorah and Postville, Iowa, said federal authorities dumped the potential witnesses in their towns without making arrangements for their housing, food or work. The men showed up in the November cold shoeless, wearing light prison-issued clothing and socks with thin soles, a community spokesmen told The Gazette, a local paper.
What An Immigration Trial Would Uncover
If the immigration charges against Rubashkin were allowed to go forward and these witnesses had a chance to testify, ICE officials would be forced to address a number of burning questions.
• "They'd have to answer why illegal immigration was singled out and criminalized at AgriProcessors in a way it has never been before," writes Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas, a professor of Hispanic studies at Miami University, who also served as a court appointed translator for arrested immigrants at AgriProcessors.
"A year later, it is clear that the feds crushed hundreds of workers and their families, at an unprecedented scale, to build an exemplary immigration case against Sholom Rubashkin," he said. "Dropping those charges now as unnecessary makes the raid all the more scandalous.
"Under the old way of doing things, the illegal workers would have been simply and swiftly deported. Instead, more than 260 were charged as serious criminals for "aggravated identity theft" –for using false Social Security numbers, and most were sentenced to five months in prison."
• At an immigration trial, officials would be forced to address the fact that a few months following the raid, the US Supreme Court slammed the charges of ID theft that were used to coerce guilty pleas from the immigrants. The court said identify theft applies only when the defendant knows the correct identify of the owner whose documents he steals.
In the case of the illegal workers, most had no clue about the significance or content of their false papers. Their convictions should therefore have been vacated and the people freed. Why weren't they?
• Why was Agriprocessors targeted when it is widely known that the livestock industry uses illegal immigrants extensively? With 19 million illegals and a cloudy policy at best, why was Agri singled out? In an immigration trial, these questions could no longer be stonewalled.
Rubashkin's lawyers have for months been requesting documents explaining how the raid was planned, organized and executed. They want to know how the operation was justified, how authorities arrived at the presumption that violation of the law was the norm at AgriProcessors. ICE officials have repeatedly shunted aside their requests.
After three follow-up letters asking ICE officials about the open-records request, defense lawyers sued for the information under the Freedom Of Information Act. "Despite several requests for production of the information sought, it is apparent ICE will not honor Sholom Rubashkin's FOIA requests without legal pressure," Guy Cook and Montgomery Brown wrote in the lawsuit.
• An immigration trial would have produced evidence that crippled the prosecution's charges that Agriprocessors not only knowingly hired illegal aliens, but aided them in document fraud. The plant twice rejected the employment application of a federal "sting" informant because of fraudulent work documents.
He was hired the third time he applied after authorities equipped him with legitimate papers, and he was thus able to infiltrate the plant. With clear evidence that the plant had screening procedures in place and did not indiscriminately hire illegal aliens, "prosecutors knew their case was tenuous," noted Washington attorney Nathan Lewin. Is this why they decided to cook up a bank fraud case against Rubashkin?
• Had an immigration trial gone forward, ICE officials would have to address the fact that prior to the raid, the plant had retained a prominent international law firm to negotiate with ICE officials so as to resolve his immigration problems and remove illegal employees. The law firm had represented a large beef-slaughtering operation that had employed hundreds of illegal aliens, and these lawyers had succeeded in avoiding a raid.
But in the case of AgriProcessors, the federal agents refused to call off the planned raid. Why? The brutal enforcement action and the attendant national publicity poisoned public opinion against Rubashkin, dooming both him and his company. Who in the chain of authority wanted this to happen? Who had so little regard for the sweeping collateral damage in terms of lives shattered, and the economic wreckage of an entire town?
What Became Of The Government's Lurid Allegations?
Remember the first reports that hit the press right after the government raid last year? AgriProcessors was painted as a den of iniquity by an ICE affidavit that allegedly uncovered lurid criminal activity.
In addition to harboring aliens, and exploiting and mistreating their workers, the plant was accused of being a front for drug production, of harboring a Meth lab within its facility. Weapons and bombs were said to be present in the plant. One affidavit even quoted a worker who claimed he was tied up by a rabbi!
The lies and fabrications were so ludicrous, they would have been laughable had they not been gobbled up by a media and a public willing to believe the worst.
Whatever happened to these wild, slanderous allegations? "If ICE truly believed in the veracity of the document it publicized so openly, it would have dispatched a HAZMAT (Hazardous Materials) team to the site at the time of the raid," noted Washington attorney Nathan Lewin at the time.
Lewin added that following the raid, state and federal officials began speaking out against AgriProcessors "without any independent inquiry or due diligence." The allegations dominated the headlines for a while, swiftly turning the tide of public opinion as elected officials railed against AgriProcessors.
Public Officials Rush To Judgment
Iowa Governor Culver utilized his position to slam AgriProcessors for taking "the low road". He publicly outlined the stringent measures he would take against the plant, yet turned down an invitation to visit the plant for himself and develop an informed position.
A group of uninformed Jewish congressmen sent a critical letter to Aaron Rubashkin, which echoed many of the libels circulated by PETA (an extremist animal-rights group) and the UFCW (labor union known for its strong-arm tactics). Then-Senator Barack Obama even threw in a few barbs against AgriProcessors while campaigning!
Who was behind all of these wild allegations and the pressure brought to bear on public officials? To many, they seemed to carry the fingerprints of the anti-Agri ‘cabal,' consisting of the PETA people, Union officials, and left-wing Jewish groups.
The reaction was catastrophic. The liberal Jewish media churned out story after story of abuse and negligence by AgriProcessors. The JTA ran an almost daily update. Many liberal Jewish journalists showed up in Postville hoping go obtain incriminating information for their columns. They even went into the local church and took quotes from hostile spokesmen.
The decline of AgriProcessors had been set in motion.Connecting The Dots
Nathan Lewin, who at one time represented AgriProcessors, traces the demonization of the meat-packing plant and particularly of Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin to events of five years ago when PETA sneaked one of their agents into the plant. The agent took a secret video of cows being slaughtered after which the animal-rights group released the video, claiming it showed the abuse of animals.
The USDA, which monitors the plant and has a team of more than 20 inspectors continaully on site, never closed the plant for even one hour and never corroborated the video. Rabbanim and poskim verified that shechitah procedures were being followed exactly according to Torah law.
Indpendent audits of the company conducting exhaustive reviews, reported no instances of inhumane slaughter, and gave AgriProcessors high marks for both its handling of livestock and its slaughtering procedures.
Anti-Shechitah Group Gains Momentum
Yet PETA was relentless. Their agenda to put an end to shechitah in the United States received a boost when their aggressive smear campaign against AgriProcessors won the alliance of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), a powerful labor union known for forcing businesses into submission, as well as the Forward newspaper.
Joining forces, these elements wielded formidable influence in both the public and political arena, and succeeded in demonizing AgriProcessors and its management.
The Union was determined to make Agri "pay" for refusing to unionize, and their tactics extended even to Jewish communities in Boro Park and Flatbush, who received automated phone calls slandering Agri's products. The Forward began a series of articles, many of which were filled with misrepresentations, lies, and false statements against Rubashkin.
Smear Campaign
The net effect of the smear campaign was predictable, culminating in the almost universal vilification of an innocent man. Under its steady exposure, support eroded for Rubashkin and AgriProessors, even in the Orthodox Jewish community.
As a result, Rubashkin was convicted in the courtroom of public opinion long before he had his day in court this past month. Most dishearteningly, the prosecution's campaign to portray him as the mastermind of a massive fraud scheme—based on empty allegations and insinuations—has made inroads in the Orthodox community.
Comments from intelligent people reveal a breathtaking lack of information about the case, and worse—a lack of sufficient interest and motivation to probe beneath the media hype for the truth. Hearing about "fake invoices" allegedly approved by Rubashkin has propelled people to snap judgments, casting an honest man as a swindler.
Bank Fraud Charge Doesn't Stand Up
As attorney Nathan Lewin points out, even assuming the charge to be true, "the creation of fake invoices is not a criminal offense unless the invoices are used to defraud someone." And prosecutors failed to prove that the bank—or anyone else—was defrauded.
"The bank was not defrauded because it really did not care what the invoices showed and could readily have discovered the truth," Lewin explained in correspondence with Yated. "Thus, no crime was committed. At best it may have been a technical offense that did not warrant the massive charges brought against Sholom Rubashkin."
Lewin said he believes "a neutral and fair federal prosecutor –not blinded by the prospect of enormous publicity for going after a high-profile target—would never have brought Rubashkin to federal court on bank fraud charges."
Yet prosecutors in this case did so, and were successful in dressing up minor offenses as bank fraud, he said.
Punishment 'Staggeringly Disproportionate'
"Sholom Rubashkin has been given a raw deal," concurred the OU's Rabbi Menachem Genack. "The excessive prosecution of this man is staggeringly disproportionate to his mistakes. Genack noted that Rubashkin "maintains his innocence of bank fraud charges, and indeed, anyone who had dealings with him can vouch for his integrity."
He added said that in his own visits to the plant, he never saw the slightest "cutting of corners in either halacha or ethical conduct. USDA inspectors were in the plant at all times, and they never reported a violation of any kind," he noted.
"Few media outlets described the extraordinarily good side to this man, his generosity and kind-heartedness toward everyone, Jew and non-Jew," Genack said. "The Yated is an outstanding exception and deserves tremendous credit for rallying behind Sholom Mordechai."
Genack believes that "whatever lapses may have occurred under duress when he was scrambling to save his company, do not warrant the kind of excessive prosecution and lifelong punishment that should be reserved for hard-core criminals."
"This was a man who—unlike a notorious all-time swindler people like to compare him with—lived modestly, was kind and trustworthy, never fleeced a single customer. Even after the raid, under impossible pressures, he kept his payments to the bank coming punctually. To keep his commitments, he and his family mortgaged everything they owned. "If anyone is deserving of sympathy, support and leniency, it is Sholom Rubahskin."
This article is published in this weekend's Yated Ne'eman.
Having pangs of remorse, how long has it been since they hung him out to dry? HersheyMan doesn't look like he'll be filling SMR's shoes anytime too soon either. It's been a tough couple of years for the OU, better get those Tootsie Rolls and bottle waters rolling fast. A shanda is what they have finally made of kashrus.
Posted by: yidandhalf | December 03, 2009 at 06:40 PM
Genack noted that Rubashkin "maintains his "innocence of bank fraud charges, and indeed, anyone who had dealings with him can vouch for his integrity."
Good spin doctoring. Complete bullshit, but entertaining. Re-writing history and the sanctification of SMR has begun. Like Pollard may the campaign go on for the next 25 years or so.
Posted by: justice seeker | December 03, 2009 at 06:40 PM
I have never read such a load of crap before in life.
I could go into all the ways the above article/commentary is a load of crap but I would be here all night.
I dont know about anyone else out there, but I have had it up to my eyebrows wiht all the HOEY about how SMR and the Rubashkin family have supposedly been the true victims in all this mess.
Posted by: TheTruthAsItIs | December 03, 2009 at 06:50 PM
We need more orthodox people to stand behind and speak up on behalf Shalom Mordechai Rubashkin. This whole case was a farce from beginning to end. And don't give the "poor treatment of workers line" because that is not why the Govt brought this case. I am not saying that SMR is a tzadik nor that the behaviors and policies should be repeated by anyone. But the Govt is not protecting you. Whatever their motives it wasn't to have justice served.
No need to respond if you are sippin anti-Rubashkin punch. I acknowledge the wrongdoings but you Kool-Aid sippers are hell bent against Rubashikin for whatever personal reasons and believ him to be the devil incarate.
Posted by: Chabadnik Attorney | December 03, 2009 at 06:51 PM
Have a good night. Get off the hate wagon its not healthy for you. SMR is going to jail what more do you need. You want to see blood? Sickos.
Posted by: Chabadnik Attorney | December 03, 2009 at 06:54 PM
Who is sick of posting about SMR - raise your hand ?
Posted by: Chabadnik Attorney | December 03, 2009 at 06:56 PM
If there was no bank fraud, then where is the $35 million?
Posted by: nachos | December 03, 2009 at 07:13 PM
[OU's Rabbi Menachem Genack] -
R' Menachem Genack,
Sir, have you not heard of the saying . . .
'A wolf in sheep's clothing'?
It is a most accurate description of SMR!
Posted by: AGRI-vated Angel | December 03, 2009 at 07:49 PM
I think the feds got so many complaints they had to raid it.
Posted by: effie | December 03, 2009 at 07:51 PM
Part 1
I understand that some of the readers are blindly excusing any Chasidic Jew who is arrested and Rubashkin in particular, for over a year we read again and again how wonderful and dedicate to Torah and Mitzvahs the Rubashkin family is, how many free chickens they give out, and how many meals they served for the poor, how their house was always open for anybody who was looking for a safe place to stay, and many more good deeds, and yes after some research I came to the conclusion, that notwithstanding all the good they might have done, there is fair amount of evidences that the Rubashkin’s family were involved in a criminal enterprise, and I am not making these accusations without plenty of thought and self introspection, but after all the critical analyses of myself I come back to the evidence, it is overwhelming, over the last year I sometimes wondered what is wrong with my brothers and sisters? Why would they support a family which again and again were charged with different illegal activities, the only valid excuses I could come up with is that the average Chasid really doesn’t know, and they never did the research, therefore, I implore you go do the research and see for yourself, regardless if he did all these good deeds, the amount of criminal activities the family engaged is beyond any Chassidic family up to now.
P.S one of the places where you would get a detailed chronological profile of the Rubashkin’s family illegal activities, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/25/193320/32 perhaps that would open your eyes.
Part 2
1953 -- Abraham Aaron Rubashkin and his wife, Rivka, came to the United States from the Soviet Union to escape religious persecution. The family opens a butcher shop in Brooklyn, N.Y.
September 22, 1983 -- Moshe Rubashkin, a son of Aaron, was involved in a riot that left nine NYC police officers injured. He and three other Jewish men were charged with assault. Later, 250 Hasidim would take to the streets to protest the police action.
December 7, 1983 -- Moshe Rubashkin is indicted on felony assault and riot charges.
May 8, 1985 -- Moshe Rubashkin pleaded guilty to obstructing governmental administration and riot in the second degree, stemming from the September 1983 incident.
1987 -- Aaron Rubashkin buys a defunct Hygrade meatpacking plant in Postville and forms Agriprocessors, Inc. The plant first relies on immigrants from eastern Europe to provide a workforce.
1994 -- Milton Yehoshua Balkany, a son-in-law of Aaron, tries to have Dave Luchins, a former aide to Sen. Daniel Moynihan, excommunicated from the Jewish faith. Luchins had written memos complaining about Balkany's efforts to compel Israeli government officials to use U.S. aid money to fund projects Balkany favored.
August 17, 1995 -- The National Labor Relations Board finds against Cherry Hill Textiles, a Pennsylvania business owned by the family, for withholding union dues and failing to remit them to the union. The Board, in its decision stated that the Rubashkins had a "proclivity" for violating the National Labor Relations Act. The family had to repay all of the collected money with interest. The Rubashkin attorney was banned from practicing before the NLRB for six months.
Continued
Part 3
2000 -- The book "Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America" is published by University of Iowa journalism professor Stephen Bloom. The book details tension between the Hasidic community centered around the Agriprocessors plant and "native" Iowans. The centerpiece of the book is whether the town will vote to incorporate the Agriprocessors factory, which was operating on unincorporated territory. Despite Agriprocessors management threatening to leave the community if the incorporation vote passed, residents vote to incorporate and Agriprocessors continues to operate.
March 2002 -- Agriprocessors enters into a consent agreement with the Grain, Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) and, while not admitting guilt, agreed to make timely payment for the full purchase of livestock purchases. Agriprocessors also agreed to pay a civil fine of $37,500.
July 31, 2002 -- Moshe Rubashkin was found guilty of bank fraud in connection with the family textile business and was sentenced to 15 months in prison and five years probation. He was also fined $233,000.
June 18, 2003 -- PETA wrote a letter to Agriprocessors alleging that Jewish law and "common decency" had been violated at the plant in conjunction with ritual slaughter. PETA threatened Agriprocessors with exposure if the company did not agree to hire Dr. Temple Grandin as a consultant.
August 2003 -- Milton Yehoshua Balkany, a son-in-law to Aaron, was charged with defrauding the government of $700,000. The funds -- a U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development grant for Bais Yaakov, an Orthodox Jewish girls' school in Brooklyn, to develop a facility for disabled preschoolers -- were routed to an Israeli company, family members and personal obligations (including Balkany's federal tax bill.) The grant was one of five separate grants, totaling $4.9 million that were funneled to Balkany from 1998 to 2002.
Continued
Part 4
August 26, 2003 -- Noted constitutional lawyer Nathan Lewin wrote a letter to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in which he referred to himself as the attorney for Agriprocessors, Inc. Although Lewin would later misrepresent the letter in the New York Sun, PETA posted the letter on its web site.
October 23, 2003 -- Rabbis from various kosher supervisory companies and other interested parties allegedly met with senior U.S. Dept. of Agriculture officials in Washington, D.C. New directives were written that led to USDA inspectors' lackluster approach to the practice of "throat-ripping" at Agriprocessors, which would soon be the subject of an undercover video.
February 2004 -- Milton Yehoshua Balkany, a son-in-law to Aaron, was barred from lobbying officials in the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and prohibited from seeking federal loans or grants. Balkany was ordered to repay $400,000 of a $700,000 misappropriated grant for the girls' school he managed and place a $300,000 lien against the school for the remainder.
February 23, 2004 -- Moshe Rubashkin was released from a New Jersey federal prison after serving several months on bank fraud charges connected to the family's textile interests. He began a four-year probation sentence.
December 1, 2004 -- The Northeast Iowa Citizens for Clean Water filed a civil action suit against Agriprocessors, Inc. The complaint alleged that Agriprocessors violated the Clean Water Act by failing to comply with pretreatment requirements for wastewater. It further complained that Agriprocessors violated the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act and the Clean Air Act for failing to properly submit emergency and hazardous chemical inventory forms and develop a risk management program for anhydrous ammonia. Eventually, the company signed a consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and agreed to pay over $600,000 in fines.
Continued
Part 5
December 2004 -- PETA posts graphic undercover video taken at Agriprocessors allegedly showing animal cruelty.
January 11, 2005 -- A case brought against Agriprocessors by Northeast Iowa Citizens for Clean Water was consolidated with a similar case brought by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
January 31, 2005 -- Moshe Rubashkin, released from prison less than a year earlier, was elected chairman of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, a group that receives $1.9 million a year in NYC and state social services and housing contracts. He continues to serve in that capacity.
April 2005 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture completes an investigation of Agriprocessors and passes its findings on to federal prosecutors, but refuses to release the report to members of the press or PETA, which files a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain the document.
June 28, 2005 -- Local Pride, a small kosher slaughterhouse owned by Agriprocessors, opens in Gordon, NE. The plant opens with the assistance of a Community Development Block Grant for $505,000 and potential tax credits of $3,000 per worker.
October 2005 -- Agriprocessors Brooklyn warehouse workers vote to unionize. Agriprocessors refuses to bargain.
2006 -- The Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration issues Agriprocessors six violations.
March 2006 -- The USDA investigation of Agriprocessors, kept confidential for more than a year, is released to PETA through a Freedom of Information Act Request. The report indicates that Agriprocessors violated animal cruelty laws and that inspectors, instead of stopping the inhumane practices, took improper gifts of meat from company managers. The report details that 10 inspectors made faulty inspections of carcasses, failed to correct unsanitary conditions and slept or played games on the job. Federal prosecutors, given the report, "decided it was not a prosecutable case."
Continued
Part 6
March 2006 -- USDA issued Agriprocessors management a "Letter of Warning" and details a list of problems at the plant that are affecting food safety.
May 26, 2006 -- A news article in the Jewish Daily Forward prompted the formation of an independent rabbi commission to investigate allegations of worker abuse at Agriprocessors.
August 31, 2006 -- The National Labor Relations Board ordered that Agriprocessors had to honor a union vote at their Brooklyn facility. Agriprocessors management had argued that because many who voted to unionize were illegal aliens, the vote did not have to be honored.
September 2006 -- USDA issued Agriprocessors management a "Letter of Warning" and, in the three-page letter, details problems at the plant. "These finding lead us to question your ability to maintain sanitary conditions, and to produce a safe and wholesome product."
January 24, 2007 -- Agriprocessors issued a voluntary recall of about 2,700 pounds of potentially underprocessed frankfurters shipped to New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. It was a Class I recall -- the highest classification given to consumer recalls when use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.
February 2007 -- An article in Kosher Today -- a publication by Rubashkin friend Menachem Lubinsky -- indicated an OSHA inspection took place at the plant and that the facility was given a clean bill of health. OSHA, however, said no such inspection happened.
March 2007 -- Estaurdo Salazar and 20 other current or former workers at Agriprocessors filed a class action lawsuit claiming the company routinely failed to pay employees for hours worked.
Continued
Part 7
May 2007 -- PETA released second undercover footage, citing additional charges of animal cruelty at Agriprocessors' Local Pride operation in Nebraska.
May 7, 2007 -- About 200 workers at Agriprocessors walked out when several employees were questioned about Social Security Administration no-match letters. The workers believed that reconciling the reports would force them back to starting pay scales. The federal government would later use the same no-match letters in their search warrant affidavit for the May 12 immigration raid.
September 12, 2007 -- Moshe Rubashkin and his son Sholom Rubashkin were arrested on indictments issued in Pennsylvania. Moshe faced one count of illegal storage of hazardous waste without a permit. Sholom faced one count of making a materially false statement. The charges stem from their ownership and operation of a textile dyeing, bleaching and weaving business, Montex Textiles, located in Allentown, PA.
October 1, 2007 -- The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York ordered Agriprocessors and Nevel Properties Corp., both owned by the Rubashkin family, to pay $1.4 million to the bankruptcy trustees of Allou Distributors, Inc., a N.Y.-based health and beauty supply company. Through the two named companies, the Rubashkins were found to have accepted $3.2 million in payments from Allou for unknown reasons. Sholom M. Rubashkin, a son of Aaron and then vice president and chief executive of Agriprocessors, originally stated that nothing was given to Allou in exchange for the payments. He later switched his testimony to reflect that the health and beauty company purchased $3.2 million in kosher meat.
October 26, 2007 -- A motion by Agriprocessors to dismiss a class action lawsuit for unpaid wages (filed in March) was denied in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids.
Continued
Part 8
November 14, 2007 -- Congressional letter signed by four members of the House of Representatives was sent to the USDA inquiring about food safety at Agriprocessors.
January 4, 2008 -- U.S. Court of Appeals refuses Agriprocessors' petition for review of a National Labor Relations Board decision that the company had to honor a vote to unionize at its Brooklyn facility.
January 7, 2008 -- Sholom Rubashkin, son of Moshe, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of making a materially false statement. The charges stemmed from he and his father's ownership and operation of a textile factory in Pennsylvania, that was gutted by a series of unexplained fires. Although originally scheduled for sentencing in March, the sentencing was postponed to November.
January 17, 2008 -- The UFCW released the results of a food safety investigation into sodium levels in Agriprocessors' products sold under private label at Trader Joe's. The report also detailed high sodium levels in Agriprocessors' national brand, Aaron's Best.
February 4, 2008 -- Moshe Rubashkin pleaded guilty in federal court to charges that he illegally stored hazardous waste at a textile factory he owned and operated in Pennsylvania. The factory fell victim to a series of unexplained fires in 2005. Moshe's sentencing hearing was postponed from July to November.
February 29, 2008 -- The UFCW released a second food safety report detailing concerns at Agriprocessors' Local Pride plant in Gordon, NE.
March 20, 2008 -- Iowa Occupational Health and Safety (IOSHA) issued a press release detailing 39 violations of safety and health at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, and issued an $182,000 fine. The 39 violations are more than the total violations at all Iowa meat plants for the year 2007.
Continued
Part 9
March 26, 2008 -- Consumer group Food and Water Watch released a report entitled More Foul Fowl: An Updated Analysis of Salmonella Contamination in Broiler Chickens, which revealed plants with high levels of Salmonella testing failures, Agriprocessors among them.
April 15, 2008 -- Carlos Tzirin-Rodriguez, a former Agriprocessors worker and illegal immigrant, was arrested by ICE agents.
April 16, 2008 -- The respected kosher supervision agency, K'hal Adath Jeshurun (KAJ) officially dropped its certification on all Agriprocessors products.
May 12, 2008 -- Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement surrounded Postville and Agriprocessors. Nearly 400 workers were detained, making the incident the largest single-site operation ever conducted by federal authorities. Detainees were bussed to the National Cattle Congress fairgrounds in neighboring Waterloo where they were held in makeshift dormitories and charged criminally. Most of Postville's Hispanic community took sanctuary in St. Bridget's Catholic Church and remained there for six days.
May 13, 2008 -- Stephen Bloom, author of a book on Postville, told Iowa Independent that the plant raid was inevitable.
May 13-16, 2008 -- Detainees from the immigration raid were run through makeshift courtrooms at the Waterloo fairgrounds for initial appearances in groups of 10. Most of those detained faced charges related to identity theft, most took plea bargains and were sentenced to five-month stints in federal prison before deportation. A number of juveniles, medically-dependent individuals and women were released back into Postville with ankle tracking devices.
May 22, 2008 -- 297 of the 302 Agriprocessors workers facing criminal charges pleaded guilty.
Continued
Part 10
May 27, 2008 -- Uri L'Tzedek, a grassroots Orthodox social justice organization, delivered a letter to Aaron Rubashkin demanding federal minimum wages, workplace and worker safety and ethical practices. The letter was signed by hundreds of U.S. kosher meat consumers, including 200 pulpit rabbis, Hillel directors, day school principals, educators and other community leaders.
May 29, 2008 -- The Iowa Division of Labor Services, citing informal meetings and Agriprocessors promises of compliance, reduced fines for numerous health and safety violations at the plant from $182,000 to $47,750.
May 31, 2008 -- Labor Ready, a Waterloo staffing firm hired by Agriprocessors to fill a worker void after the raid, pulled more than 100 workers from the plant due to safety concerns.
June 5, 2008 -- Agriprocessors hired Jim Martin, a former U.S. Attorney in Missouri, as the company's compliance officer.
June 8, 2008 -- Author and investigative journalist John Bowe tells Iowa Independent that situation at Agriprocessors is an end result of "modern slave labor."
June 11, 2008 -- During a meeting of Agriprocessors management and leaders of Uri L'Tzedek, a liberal Orthodox activist group that organized a boycott of Agriprocessors products, Milton Yehoshua Balkany allegedly threatened the grassroots organizers, making reference to "the last guy who went up against my father-in-law."
June 13, 2008 -- Court translator Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas wrote an essay which was highly critical of the swift convictions of the Postville detainees.
June 20, 2008 -- An investigation by Iowa Independent revealed the identity of a supervisor accused in the federal search warrant of exploiting immigrant workers. In addition, the Iowa Independent informed federal prosecutors that the supervisor has fled the country to escape charges.
Continued
Part 11
June 24, 2008 -- Getzel Rubashkin, a grandson of Aaron and son of Sholom, spoke before the Postville City Council. The city, already under economic distress as a result of the population decline, suffered from increased criminal activity, a result of the company's head hunters bringing homeless individuals from Texas to work at the plant.
June 27, 2008 -- Iowa Independent and La Parenza, a Spanish newspaper in western Iowa, detailed how a mystery advertiser sought meatapackers for Agriprocessors in Guatemala.
July 3, 2008 -- Two Agriprocessors middle-management supervisors were arrested at the plant and charged in federal court with encouraging illegal immigration. The U.S. Attorney's Office announces that they are seeking a third supervisor, Hosam Amara, who as fled the jurisdiction.
July 8, 2008 -- Uri L'Tzedek announced the end of its boycott of Rubashkin products.
July 11, 2008 -- 5W Public Relations, a firm hired by Agriprocessors in the wake of the May immigration raid to "deal with the blogs," is caught impersonating other members of the Jewish community in various blog comments. When the fake comments were traced back to a senior staff member, 5W chief executive officer Ronn Torissian attributed the mistake to "company growing pains."
July 17, 2008 -- The two Agriprocessors supervisors charged with encouraging illegal immigration pleaded not guilty.
July 21, 2008 -- Members of the U.S. Congressional Hispanic Caucus announced plans to visit Postville and personally witness the aftermath of the raid.
July 22, 2008 -- Carlos Tzirin-Rodriguez, a 26-year-old former Agriprocessors worker, entered a guilty plea in federal court to using fraudulent documents in order to obtain employment. The man was not one of those detained in the raid, but was arrested on April 15. Federal officials declined further comment on what role, if any, Tzirin-Rodriquez played in the investigation of the company.
Continued
Part 12
July 24, 2008 -- Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas, a court translator who worked the quick conviction cases of detainees from Postville, gave testimony to the U.S. House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law.
July 26, 2008 -- Immigrants remaining in Postville detailed their plight to members of the U.S. Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Joe Baca, a member of the Congressional delegation, refers to the raid and subsequent criminal charges as a "kangaroo court."
July 27, 2008 -- More than 1,000 people lined the streets of Postville to call for immigration reform. Both the demonstrators and the counter-demonstrators agreed that employers who hire illegal immigrants should be held accountable.
August 5, 2008 -- The Iowa Labor Commissioner cites "egregious violations" of child labor laws at Agriprocessors and handed 57 cases to the Iowa Attorney General's Office for prosecution. Menachem Lubinsky, spokesperson for the Rubashkin family, denied any wrongdoing.
August 20, 2008 -- Jewish workers at Agriprocessors, citing non-payment of wages, walked off the job. Rabbi Menachem Weissmandl, who supervises glatt kosher meat and strictly kosher poultry at the plant, told Iowa Independent that the situation is "off limits to outside scrutiny."
August 21, 2008 -- One of the former Agriprocessors supervisors charged with encouraging illegal immigration entered a guilty plea with the court.
August 22, 2008 -- The Iowa Division of Labor Services issued an accusation of 31 new and repeat safety violations against Agriprocessors.
August 24, 2008 -- Iowa Gov. Chet Culver wrote in a guest column for the Des Moines Register that Agriprocessors was taking the low road and linked the situation there with novelist Upton Sinclair's book "The Jungle." Management responded by asking Culver to visit the facility. Culver declined the invitation.
August 27, 2008 -- The second of two former Agriprocessors supervisors facing charges of encouraging illegal immigration agreed to a federal plea deal.
Continued
Part 13
August 29, 2008 -- Staff at the Iowa Attorney General's Office, working with agents with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, executed a search warrant at Agriprocessors.
September 5, 2008 -- PETA released a third video from inside the Agriprocessors plant and charged the company with inhumane slaughtering techniques.
September 9, 2008 -- Agriprocessors is charged with more than 9,000 child labor law violations by the Iowa Attorney General's Office. Named in the charges are Aaron Rubashkin, Sholom Rubashkin, human resources manager Elizabeth Billmeyer, human resources management employee Laura Althouse and human resources management employee Karina Freund. The same day agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Althouse and Freund at the Agriprocessors plant. By the afternoon, the Orthodox Union told Agriprocessors to hire new management or it would lose its kosher certification.
September 10, 2008 -- Aaron Rubashkin said the charges of child labor law violations were "baloney."
September 11, 2008 -- Dr. Temple Grandin, a national authority on humane livestock slaughtering, called Agriprocessors "sloppy."
September 12, 2008 -- Postville continued to be diverse with Europeans, Americans, Somalis and Palauans living in the community.
September 17, 2008 -- Two Agriprocessors human resources management employees are indicted by a grand jury on document fraud and immigration-related charges.
September 18, 2008 -- New York attorney Bernard Feldman is named as the new CEO at Agriprocessors. Information released by Agriprocessors omits the fact that Feldman represented the Rubashkins in an earlier bankruptcy case involving Allou Distributors.
September 19, 2008 -- Guatemalan Carlos Tzirin-Rodriguez was sentenced to two years in federal prison for identity theft.
September 25, 2008 -- Agriprocessors HR employees Althouse and Freund entered not guilty pleas in federal court.
Continued
Part 14
September 27, 2008 -- Postville property management company GAL Investments ends an agreement with Jacobson Staffing, a company serving as Agriprocessors' human resource department. Controversial wage deductions were done, according to the company owner, to help community newcomers.
October 2, 2008 -- Attorneys that had previously represented Agriprocessors requested the court allow their removal as counsel. The attorneys cite non-payment. A federal judge agreed that the U.S. Department of Labor should be allowed to depose former Agriprocessors employees prior to their deportation.
October 7, 2008 -- The son of the former chief executive at Agriprocessors is outed as at least one person who helped found a supposedly grassroots, pro-Agriprocessors blog.
October 29, 2008 -- The state of Iowa accessed nearly $10 million in civil penalties for wage law violations at Agriprocessors. Althouse, a former human resources management employee at the plant, entered a guilty plea in federal court to conspiracy to harbor undocumented aliens and aggravated identity theft.
October 30, 2008 -- Sholom Rubashkin, son of Agriprocessors founder Aaron Rubashkin and former chief executive at Agriprocessors, was arrested by federal authorities on charges that he conspired in immigration-related offenses. He would be released later that day on bail after he surrendered his passport and agreed to wear a tracking device. The Postville Jewish community came under scrutiny when a video surfaced of a celebration event after Rubashkin was released on bail. Also on this day, First Bank Business Capital filed a lawsuit claiming Agriprocessors had defaulted on a $35 million loan.
November 4, 2008 -- Moshe Rubashkin, a son of Agriprocessors founder Aaron Rubashkin, was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison for leaving hazardous waste inside the Allentown, PA textile plant he owned and managed. Agriprocessors filed chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York.
Continued
Part 15 and last part
November 2008 -- Postville landlords began evicting tenants; Palauans seek ways to return home; ICE agents arrested another worker at the Agriprocessors plant; and Local Pride, the Agriprocessors-affiliate in Nebraska, ceases production. The economy goes from bad to worse in Postville as more former workers find themselves out-of-work, without a home and unable to care for themselves. Many organizations collected donations on behalf of the people of Postville.
November 14, 2008 -- Sholom Rubashkin is again arrested by federal authorities -- this time on charges of multi-million dollar bank fraud. The court would later refuse to release Rubashkin on bail a second time, citing money found in his home and belief of flight.
November 21, 2008 -- The U.S. Attorney's Office of Northern Iowa unsealed a new grand jury indictment for Agriprocessors, Sholom Rubashkin, plant operations manager Brent Bebee, former poultry manager Hosam Amara, former plant poultry manager Zeev Levi and human resources management employee Karina Freund. All faced new charges related to immigration and document fraud. Postville Mayor Bob Penrod asked the Iowa Governor's Office to declare his town a human and economic disaster area.
November 23, 2008 -- The trustee in the chapter 11 bankruptcy visits the Postville plant. Agriprocessors argues that since its CEO Bernard Feldman wants to accompany the trustee on his Iowa visit, hearings to change the venue of the bankruptcy from New York to Iowa should be postponed.
November 25, 2008 -- Company trucks and tractor-trailers were repossessed. Drivers report weeks without pay, and unpaid medical expenses.
End
Posted by: OMG | December 03, 2009 at 07:54 PM
Just happen to have some insight on this crap. The reason the USDA never had problems is that when they really did, SMR would call district or Washington and claim some kind of religious crap. The inspectors were then told to back off for fear of stupid shit. Yes it is true!!!! Don't believe? When Agri got busted by PETA nothing happened. When the Vermont plant got busted not too long ago, USDA shut them down! Verify by FSIS documentation which is on the web.
Posted by: The sane one | December 03, 2009 at 08:04 PM
"No need to respond if you are sippin anti-Rubashkin punch."
Dude that punch Scotty and other are drinking must be spiked because it seems to cause the complete loss of logic and reason.
Posted by: Successful Messiah | December 03, 2009 at 08:06 PM
SM: Put down your crack pipe. It is you who has had a complete loss of logic and reason, assuming you had any to begin with. Your guy has been convicted of numerous criminal counts and is heading for prison for a very long time. Pretending otherwise, only makes you look silly and pathetic.
Posted by: effie | December 03, 2009 at 08:12 PM
For the last few moments I was debating if I should even try to point out the blatant lies this article contains at the end I decided there are so many that I just cannot write a book to refute each lie, but I decided just to cover one subject and show for the whole world that this Debbie Maimon is not nothing more than a blatant BS artist. See wrote
“This is the same judge who not only authorized the raid on AgriProcessors, but helped prepare the plea bargain scripts that illegal immigrants were forced to use, and worked actively with prosecutors in expediting their sentencing.”
The writer contents that Judge Reade was the judge who authorized the raid; the truth is that Judge Jon Stuart Scoles signed off on the search warrant on May 9th 2008, I have a electronic copy of the search warrant. On the second point, one- the only person who ever mentioned in the Congressional hearings the Judge Reade might had input in the plea agreement was Mr. Cole but the fact is that no were in the Cole’s letter did he say that Judge Reade was involved with the planning of the raid or evolved with the original search warrants or the subsequent arrest, what Mr. Cole is saying that there were a meeting were the court recruited defense counsel as the raid was being carried out, so far on this Mr. Cole didn’t have a problem, the specific problem Mr. Cole had was that the DA and the defense counsel discussed the variations of the plea offers before the defense counsel met with their clients, and in his view that might product a conflict of interest for the defense counsel, as for judge Reade he said that he doesn’t remember what if anything she said and that she was there for around 10 minutes, his problem of the Judge being there was, that according rule 11 the judge cannot participate in the plea agreement, the back and forth discussions between the prosecutor and the lawyers, and the judge could only ratify the agreement and the judge is not bound by the agreement. On page 4 Mr. Cole wrote that it is only his assumption and inference from news media that Judge Reade was involved in the discussions on the plea deal before the defense counsel saw any detainee and as a matter of fact in the same paragraph Mr. Cole states that “I hope I am wrong on my inference” he himself wrote that it is only an inference. Two- The letter by Mr. Cole was dated July 24 2008, that is more than a year ago, SMR’s lawyers could have objected to the Judge, it seems that they came away with the conclusion that the Judge would be impartial and fair to both sides.
This is just one little snippet of lies Debbie Maimon she wrote I just don’t have the energy to write a new book.
Posted by: OMG | December 03, 2009 at 09:01 PM
nachos ,
"If there was no bank fraud, then where is the $35 million?"
ASK THE GOVERNMENT!!! they forced him into bankruptcy! with alleged charges that were utimatly dropped! untill the day THEY mixed in the bank got every single payment!!! Rubashkin had ABSOLUTELY NO intention to defraud the bank of a penny.
(by the way, to date, the bank got a very large part of it back....)
Posted by: chaim | December 03, 2009 at 09:41 PM
The sane one,
"When Agri got busted by PETA nothing happened. When the Vermont plant got busted not too long ago, USDA shut them down! Verify by FSIS documentation which is on the web.J"
what backward logic: Agri wasn't busted by PETA! they were slandered by PETA (an organization that would to it to any slaughterhouse if it could!!!!) inspectors were always on the ground there, and additionaly more came in to investigate and found NOTHING wrong. you are dreaming up nice fantasy's! I guess you would find a concpiracy in anything. Are you open to buying the Brooklyn bridge :)
Posted by: chaim | December 03, 2009 at 09:50 PM
The Verizon phone book shows Yated Ne'eman being located at 53..........
Posted by: FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican | December 03, 2009 at 09:54 PM
OMG,
you bring a list of allegations against who? we are talking about Sholom Rubashkin and you bring in TOTALLY irrelevant things!!!! what crimes did SMR commit - and was convicted of - that warrants such harsh treatment??? who else - in the exact same circumstance was treated remotely similar????
you are sick!! yes he is not perfect, but making him into the devil - to be locked up for years.... this is the SICKEST thing I have ever heard of. this is the biggest perversion of justice and this is enabled because unfortunately this country has a bunch of lunatics like you who treat a man like Sholom Rubashkin like this but have mercy on the WORST OF THE WORST.
Posted by: chaim | December 03, 2009 at 09:58 PM
Chaim;
If you are not familiar with the term criminal enterprise that is not my problem, this is a family criminal enterprise why blame me blame SMR’s family show me another orthodox family with that many run-ins with the law.
Posted by: OMG | December 03, 2009 at 10:09 PM
And that list you posted is incomplete – there's even more.
Posted by: Shmarya | December 03, 2009 at 10:12 PM
OMG,
again, please point me to something Sholom Rubashkin was convicted of that warrants harsh treatment?
Posted by: chaim | December 03, 2009 at 10:14 PM
Thank you OMG.
I intend to copy your posts to remind me of what a combination of Anti-Gentilism & greed does to people.
. . . and as evidence of G_d putting an end to it!
Posted by: AGRI-vated Angel | December 03, 2009 at 10:18 PM
Chaim:
In the real world the buck stops with the CEO, the top decision maker, the guy in charge.
He is responsible for the operation: from the treatment of animals, to the kashrus of the product and everything in between. EVERYTHING that happens in that plant is relevant and is his responsibility.
Posted by: state of disgust | December 03, 2009 at 10:23 PM
OMG:
Nice compendium and very useful.
Posted by: state of disgust | December 03, 2009 at 10:25 PM
state of disgust,
I'll ask this question again, please point me to something Sholom Rubashkin was convicted of that warrants harsh treatment?
Posted by: chaim | December 03, 2009 at 10:35 PM
One more thing:
Stop the BS about the USDA not filing one report about problems at Agri. The record is full of USDA FSIS reports of problems at the plant including a "voluntary" recall of bad product. Anyone who knows the food business knows there is no such thing as a voluntary recall. The USDA comes to the owner and says recall the product voluntarily or we will bust your ass, force the recall in court and shut you down.
I also recall an incident when the USDA closed Agri while they the staff chased rats around the plant. When the staff figured out where the rats were living, they shoved a water hose down the hole and flooded the nest. Only then did the USDA inspectors agree they could restart the operation.
As for Geneck, my guess is SMR has enough on the OU to blow them up. So Geneck is being pressured by Yated and trying to keep SMR from spilling the beans by showing support.
Posted by: state of disgust | December 03, 2009 at 10:39 PM
I'll ask this question again, please point me to something Sholom Rubashkin was convicted of that warrants harsh treatment?
Chaim –
You're being silly. Rubashkin hasn't been sentenced yet. You have no idea what his "treatment" will be.
Posted by: Shmarya | December 03, 2009 at 10:39 PM
state of disgust,
any large enterprise will have problems from time to time and they deal with it - it is not criminal activity. they had many inspectors ON SITE all day.
Posted by: chaim | December 03, 2009 at 11:25 PM
Chaim:
So the government forced SMR to deposit millions of dollars that was not his in the bank account of the grocery store and the school.
Posted by: nachos | December 04, 2009 at 12:52 AM
Rabbi Genack lost all credibility with me when he failed to acknowledge the failure of the OU's supervision at the plant, which appears to have led to literally torn meat being sold as "kosher". On behalf of the OU he should have stood up, accepted responsibility and apologized, and then told anyone that purchased the product to kasher their keilim. That's what should have happened. Because of the corruption endemic in the kashrut supervision industry, and because of the unrelenting lust for cheap "kosher" meat from modern Jews in America and other countries, it did not.
Posted by: Neo-Conservaguy | December 04, 2009 at 01:17 AM
any large enterprise will have problems from time to time and they deal with it - it is not criminal activity. they had many inspectors ON SITE all day.
THey violated USDA regs and Humane Slaughter law and were cited for this.
Posted by: Shmarya | December 04, 2009 at 03:41 AM
Chaim:
Shmarya noted above you are being silly. I think you're certifiable.
You think Sholom is innocent; he has been wrongly accused. The odds are against you here. The man has accrued thousands, THOUSANDS!, of charges. Strikes me that an innocent man wrongly accused would likely have just a few charges.
He is not innocent. He has already been found guilty.
You think the USDA was doing their job. The line inspectors were doing their job and they were told by their own USDA supervisors to back off.
You are right about large corporations having problems from time to time and Agri is no exception. The only difference is, they had large problems ALL the time. Instead of solving the problems, they used bribery, threats and all things unethical and immoral to cover them up.
If a cow eats all the time and never moves, he is soon knee-deep in his own
sh-t.
You want to help Sholom? Send him a snorkel...he's in over his head.
Posted by: SOP II | December 04, 2009 at 05:52 AM
A very good read, especially for Chaim.
[http://desmoines10.cityspur.com/2009/12/03/kosher-gate/]
Posted by: sage | December 04, 2009 at 05:57 AM
These discussions will never go anywhere.
It is like liberals and conservatives talking at each other instead of to each other.
Each side has made up its mind and is not listening to the other.
Fact: Mr. Rubashkin was convicted of a number of crimes.
He will serve jail time.
No one has won.
The victims have not been made whole.
The Rubashkin family's "enterprise" is over and Mr. Rubashkin is incarcerated.
The only difference in the two sides is the lesson learned.
Pro - Rubashkins learn don't mess with the rules the government is out to get Jews.
Anti - Rubashkins learn don't mess with the rules the government will catch up to you and punish you.
The practical take home for both sides is:
Don't mess with the rules!!
Posted by: Dr. Dave | December 04, 2009 at 06:04 AM
Dr. Dave -
Good post and good advice. However, the reason blogs are here is so everyone gets to express their opinions and thoughts. If nobody messed with the rules, what the heck would there be to talk about? Not to mention the fact that the creative writing here is often very entertaining!
Addendum for Chaim:
I was there the afternoon, a week after the raid, when Sholom addressed the crowd of displaced workers at St. Bridget's. He stood on the porch of the Rectory and promised all those people they would receive their last paycheck and it would include vacation pay and every cent they had coming to them.
Never happened.
After the raid, I saw and heard Chaim Abrahams respond to a CBS reporter's question, "But sir, can you tell us why there were so many undocumented workers employed in your plant?" He looked right at the camera and said, "I don't know. They just sort of showed up here."
Did either one of these guys ever pay the bill to the Guatamalan newspapers that were running their help wanted ads? Or don't you have to pay for ads placed in all innocence?
If Sholom is such a kind and generous man, where were all his supporters when the plant absolutely could not keep workers in their employ? Where were all the people this kind and generous man helped when it came time to help him? Maybe if they had pitched in a little physical labor for their dear leader, they wouldn't be contributing to his defense fund and spouting ridiculous rhetoric in his defense now.
The employee turnover rate at Agri made their front door revolve so fast during the summer of 2008, it could have generated enough power to run the plant until 2018! Then he wouldn't have to have counted on Gentile friends to pay the plant's utility bill the month before they bellied up.
Posted by: SOP II | December 04, 2009 at 06:47 AM
The article can be summarized in these few words: SMR was constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Unfortunately, in most of those cases, Paul lived a much better lifestyle than Peter to begin with and by the time the first ruse was discovered, he was onto another escapade. If SMR needs money, perhaps he should write a book. It would be a best-seller at least within his own group!
Posted by: Hometown Postville | December 04, 2009 at 07:31 AM
It could be titled:
"How To Be A Fake Pious Jew And A Criminal At The Same Time"
"For Dummies"
Posted by: sage | December 04, 2009 at 08:11 AM
Chaim
Agri wasn't busted by PETA! they were slandered by PETA
what slander the tape just showed what the plant was doing, if anything SMR slandered himself
Posted by: seymour | December 04, 2009 at 08:21 AM
Hi Seymour,
Chaim is just plain totally ignorant of the history of this sordid mess, which dates back to 2003.
So all he can do, is shoot from the hip with his assinine posts.
There is a "Pearl Harbor" file in the PETA archives of letters that he needs to read, to learn the truth.
I'll post the URL for him, if he requests it.
Posted by: sage | December 04, 2009 at 09:02 AM
Sage:
And what, confuse Seymour with facts???
Posted by: state of disgust | December 04, 2009 at 09:26 AM
More self denial, and run for the hills. As far as I am concerned Ou, can stuff themselves and their Kosher inspections. All they do is cover up, self deny, and cover the wagons.
Isn't that what they did with brother LANNIEr, THEN GAVE EVERYONE A DINNER PRAISING THEM ALL TO THE SKY!
If they admit to what they do, no one would use them,, and thdink of all the money they would lose.
SMR was found guilty, of fraud, bank fraud, lying stealing, a wonderful background. How do you trust a gonif like this, or those who try to cover up for him?
Posted by: Boruch521 | December 04, 2009 at 09:26 AM
+++ Sage:
And what, confuse Seymour with facts???
Posted by: state of disgust | December 04, 2009 at 09:26 AM +++
Hi SOD,
The URL was for Chaim, not for Seymour.
Posted by: sage | December 04, 2009 at 09:37 AM
CA, Your posts are getting stranger and stranger every day.
Posted by: Jakes | December 04, 2009 at 11:26 AM
CA, Your posts are getting stranger and stranger every day.
I think it's cognitive dissonance.
Posted by: Shmarya | December 04, 2009 at 11:31 AM
seymour,
very funny. put out a tape from any slaughterhouse and people will find it disgusting. - this exactly is the tactic of PETA they go out to McDonald and show little children pictures of chickens being slaughtered, and try to convince them to become vegetarians.
bottom line: the inside of a slaughterhouse is not a "clean" nice scene and ANY video produced will look bad to the public.
you guys are accusing Rubashkin of inhumanity to animals - based on PETA? are you with your complete senses?
As to the charges of paying low wages - every factory in the country hire Mexicans to pay them low wages, and thats why the congress almost passed 2 years ago an amnesty bill (before the public was outraged) because ween "need" these workers who are willing to do the work that 'regular' Americans refuse to do (because of the low payment!!!!)
so again, please shoe me the barbaric "crimes" committed by Rubashkin!!!! Yes, if the government is after you and scrutinized every (small, irrelevant (usually)) detail of your life they can come up with multiple 'technical' violations - especially when you're running a huge enterprise!!! but the only thing is that 99.9% of the time, they don't do this - they don't bother most company's with very similar 'issues'. only when someone has an 'agenda', 'vendetta' (unions?) do they come down and suddenly find "hundreds" of "gross" violations. NO neutral prosecutor (anywhere in the country) would cook up such charges unless he has serious ulterior motives (high profile case = makes a name for himself?)
Posted by: yid | December 04, 2009 at 12:00 PM
CA, Your posts are getting stranger and stranger every day.
I think it's cognitive dissonance.
Posted by: Shmarya | December 04, 2009 at 11:31 AM
In that case CA, I feel for you.
Posted by: Jakes | December 04, 2009 at 12:01 PM
age,
is PETA a "source" for you? do you trust them on this issue?
please help me understand: your declared enemy comes and is a material witness against you. would anyone believe him? PETA's declared goal in life is to destroy Shchito (ritual slaughter) and for that matter any consumption of animals. so they will dig, fabricate and use deception to provoke the public into an outrage. how can you use PETA's testimony for anything?
just to put things into prospective, this "rachmonus" on animals and PETA's highest standards and value on all "life" reminds me that in Germany in the 30's - they were the most cultured and sophisticated country at the time, they even had laws on the books (and were often implemented) that if you were cruel to an animal (not kill it, just cruel!) you would be punished - while at the same time murdering millions of jews. this 'fighting' for animals - usually (based on history)- come from people who have very little feelings or regard for fellow humans...
this doesn't mean you are aloud to be cruel to animals! Jewish Law proscribes exact details and rulls regarding this , and as long as it is scrupulously followed - i don't care what PETA or any others say!
Gut Shabbos!
Posted by: yid | December 04, 2009 at 12:13 PM
My source is not PETA itself, but the contents of a list of letters (in the public domain) on their web site, posted in 2004-2005, concerning the first Agriprocessors Shechitah Scandal.
I'll post the URL link for them, on request, for you to read.
Then you will have additional information, from which, to take a more informed view.
Posted by: sage | December 04, 2009 at 12:28 PM
I never saw "cutting of corners in either halacha or ethical conduct
The problem is, you saw only what he allowed you to see. Besides, your people were hardly ever there. You were relying on MMW and MMW was relying on SMR's impeccable ethics.
Posted by: steve | December 04, 2009 at 01:15 PM
NO neutral prosecutor (anywhere in the country) would cook up such charges unless he has serious ulterior motives (high profile case = makes a name for himself?)
This is hardly a high profile case. And getting convictions in this case would not earn a prosecutor any extra points.
Posted by: effie | December 04, 2009 at 02:00 PM
OMG---SHALOM IS GUILTY OF EVERYTHING AND MORE--just ask the honest non jewish employees that worked there. NOT the ones that lied on the stand either.
question for the day---
EVERYONE that worked there knew what was going on how come SHALOM didn't???
Posted by: lou | December 04, 2009 at 02:54 PM
you guys are accusing Rubashkin of inhumanity to animals - based on PETA? are you with your complete senses?
Why not watch the tapes:
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/rubashkin.html
You might actually learn something.
Posted by: Shmarya | December 04, 2009 at 03:30 PM
How To Be A Fake Pious Jew And A Criminal At The Same Time"
"For Dummies"
Posted by: sage
Hey! That's a good start! Should we do a bio on him? Bet there's enough stuff to cut and paste off this blog to get at least a couple hundred pages! Movie, starring Mel Gibson as SMR, Erin Brockovich in a supporting role, Judge Judy as Judge Linda.
Posted by: Hometown Postville | December 04, 2009 at 03:59 PM
THE BIGGER THEY ARE, THE HARDER THEY FALL
Apparently the Rubbishcan isn't the only Habad businessman with financial woes. Leviev's operation reportedly faces clamouring creditors in Israel, and now the Times reports that Habad mega-developer SHAYA BOYMELGREEN, faces financial pressure on all fronts:
Just saw this item from a few days ago....
Star of Real Estate Boom Is Confronting Hard Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/nyregion/02developer.html
If this keeps up, I can't see how Lyubavitch can keep all its yeshivas and Habad Houses open. I prognosticate severe problems within Habad itself, including major organisational bankruptcies, liquidations, and forced sales of school and yeshiva buildings. Teacher salaries -- paid in severe arrears in the best of times -- will go first, then yeshiva mortgages will default.
If Habad creditors claim fraud -- as Agri has taught them to do regardless of truth or falsity -- I don't rule out the possibility of multiple mini-Rubashkins or Son-of-Rubashkin financial fraud prosecutions... all it takes is one material misstatement in anything that is faxed or mailed and the basis for mail or wire fraud is there.
If this scenario plays out, Habad won't need this blog or David Berger to bring it down... it will collapse of its own bloat.
Habad will need a moshiach soon.
Posted by: A E ANDERSON | East St Kilda | December 05, 2009 at 08:19 AM
sage,
you place great importance on the "findings" of PETA, but apparently the USDA considers them to be a TERRORIST organization!
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/12/peta-classified-terrorist-threat.php?campaign=th_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+treehuggersite+%28Treehugger%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
Posted by: chaim | December 07, 2009 at 09:55 AM
Chaim –
1. The link on that TreeHugger post to the USDA doc is dead.
2. I was able to locate a chched copy of that document – which is almost 6 years old.
3. I believe there was a court case related to one incident, and after it the USDA removed PETA from that list.
4. Of course, you're a deranged Chabadnik – facts, proof, truth won't matter to you.
Posted by: Shmarya | December 07, 2009 at 10:01 AM
Shmarya,
the link is far from dead! here is a shorter link to it:
http://alturl.com/et2i
"...The form reveals that PETA has been classified as a terrorist threat by the US government--potentially opening up its members to prosecution as terrorists..."
please report honestly
Posted by: chaim | December 07, 2009 at 10:17 AM
Function, Chaim. That's a link to the TreeHugger post – NOT a link to the USDA document.
Posted by: Shmarya | December 07, 2009 at 10:19 AM
Shmarya,
YOU must be part of the "anti shchito" anti-Semites that for years have attempted to ban shchito worldwide. (usually these groups are avowed anti semite!!!)
by the way, the Germans in the 1930's were very civilized, cultured nation with VERY stringent rules on animal cruelty - while at the same time butchering millions of Jews... those who "overly" love animals usually despise human beings...
As Jews, we need to follow the Halochos that the TORAH gives us for Shchito - and the hell with PETA or any others (especially those 'hechsher tzedek' nuts - they don't even eat KOSHER but they are preaching to us what is 'kosher')!!! they don't determine what is kosher or justifiable for US as Jews.
Posted by: chaim | December 07, 2009 at 10:37 AM