Agriprocessors CFO Sentenced To More Than 3 Years In Prison

Mitch Meltzer was sentenced for conspiring to make false statements to a bank. Meltzer admitted that he overstated the value of the company’s collateral as as part of his employer’s request for an advance on a revolving bank loan.

Agriprocessors manager, accountant receive federal sentences

Lynda Waddington • Iowa Independent

Two former members of the management team at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville learned their fate in federal court Wednesday.

Brent Beebe, 53, a former operations manager at the plant, was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for his role in a conspiracy to obtain fake documents for plant workers. He received the prison term after entering a guilty plea Jan. 11 to one count of conspiracy to commit document fraud.

Mitch Meltzer, 50, who served as the company’s lead accountant, was sentenced to more than 3 years in prison for conspiring to make false statements to a bank. At the September 2009 hearing where he pleaded guilty, Meltzer admitted that he signed a Collateral Certificate on Feb. 1, 2008, that overstated the value of the company’s collateral as as part of his employer’s request for an advance on a revolving bank loan.

According to court records, Beebe was one of two operations managers at the Agriprocessors plant, and oversaw beef production in the facility. The week prior to the May 12, 2008 immigration raid at the plant, Beebe conspired with other co-workers including Sholom Rubashkin, the company’s vice president who was convicted last fall of financial fraud, to help several employees obtain new fake identification documents.

Beebe, according to the court, obtained $4,500 from Rubashkin to be used as loans for approximately 19 beef production employees to pay for the new documents. A line supervisor used the money to purchase the documents and then delivered them to the plant on May 11, 2008. The documents were then used to complete new applications for several employees who did not have legitimate papers.

Court documents also indicate that Meltzer participated in a scheme with Rubashkin and the company’s chief financial officer, Yomtov (Toby) Bensasson, to falsely inflate the amount of accounts receivable collateral on Agriprocessors’ books. Rubashkin then used the inflated numbers to borrow money from the bank. Meltzer and Bensasson also manipulated monthly financial reports, reportedly at the direction of Rubashkin, and sent the false figures to the bank.

Rubashkin, who also faces state child labor law violations, was convicted by a South Dakota jury on Nov. 12, 2009 of 86 counts of financial fraud and related offenses. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 22.

Beebe and Meltzer are two of 10 members of Agriprocessors management or office staff who have been convicted on federal charges in the wake of the massive 2008 plant raid. Only two defendants in the case have not faced prosecution: Hosam Amara and Zeev Levi. Both men are believed to have fled the country to avoid prosecution and are considered fugitives.

Both Meltzer and Beebe remain free on their previous bond and are expected to surrender to federal authorities at a yet determined date to begin their sentences. Both men were given a special assessment of $100, and will be subject to a three-year term of supervised release following their prison terms. Meltzer was ordered to make $26,919,419 in restitution to the victimized banks.

Comments

[WoolSilkCotton]

Looking like 25 years for the Meat Messiah!

[Bill]

Wool,

Do you know if Meltzer is a penguin?

[WoolSilkCotton]

Bill, according to this site, he's on Facebook:

http://blog.taragana.com/law/2009/10/26/iowa-kosher-slaughterhouse-clients-testify-they-refused-to-pay-bills-lacking-proof-of-delivery-15324/

I searched Facebook, and here's what I got:

http://www.facebook.com/nu2mdwst?ref=search&sid=aX0AbG-jApAPBFt30Am8Rg.3657561186..1

He sure doesn't seem like a penguin. His Facebook friends and kids aren't religious, either.

http://www.facebook.com/nu2mdwst

[state of disgust]

"Meltzer was ordered to make $26,919,419 in restitution to the victimized banks"

Looks like First Bank never got paid and never will. Why are they going after Meltzer for $26.9 Mil and SMR, Aron and Heshy??? Or are they just going after everyone they can?

[Shmarya]

Looks like First Bank never got paid and never will. Why are they going after Meltzer for $26.9 Mil and SMR, Aron and Heshy??? Or are they just going after everyone they can?

Sholom hasn't been sentenced yet and Heshey and Aaron weren't charged.

[Bill]

"He sure doesn't seem like a penguin" - Wool

Shame.

Each time a penguin does the perp walk, I like to take an obligatory shot of White Russian on the rocks and then do a little penguin shuffle.

I guess it'll all have to wait.

:(

[WoolSilkCotton]

Bill, there will be plenty of future opportunities for that shot!

[Bill]

Assuming this guy bills at $100 per hour net of taxes, it would take him approximately 26,000 years to pay back this restitution.

Somebody give this guy a loan so he could get to work worry free!

[justice seeker]

I'd pay him $6.25 an hour to open cattle chests with a chain saw.

[sandra]

3 years is nothing .
are they all gonna get those kinds of ridiculous jail terms . 3 years , one year.....

[Isa]

Admit your guilt
Get down on your knees and beg forgiveness

WE the government will be very generous
For you have seen what WE do when you don't

[Abracadabra]

And why couldn't this Brent Beebe guy been called to testify in the state case?

[sage]

+++ Sholom hasn't been sentenced yet and Heshey and Aaron weren't charged.

Posted by: Shmarya | May 26, 2010 at 07:42 PM +++

Hi Shmarya,

Any news on FBBC being paid on the $23 Million judgement by AR[$21 Million] and SMR[$2 Million]?

[FormerPostvillian]

I knew Mitch as a personal friend, his employment at Agri was a major stress on him well before the raid.

He was like one of hitlers generals; damned if he did and damned if he didn't.

Really sorry to hear this, he is a good person who just got caught up in the sh*t. Brent also.