Rubashkin Sentence Now Official, Experts Say Sentence Is Severe But Not Surprising

A former Iowa kosher slaughterhouse executive was sentenced Tuesday to 27 years in prison for financial fraud, a sentence legal experts called severe but not necessarily surprising as judges take tough stances on white-collar crime.

Former slaughterhouse exec gets 27 years for fraud

A former Iowa kosher slaughterhouse executive was sentenced Tuesday to 27 years in prison for financial fraud, a sentence legal experts called severe but not necessarily surprising as judges take tough stances on white-collar crime.

By MICHAEL J. CRUMB • Associated Press

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A former Iowa kosher slaughterhouse executive was sentenced Tuesday to 27 years in prison for financial fraud, a sentence legal experts called severe but not necessarily surprising as judges take tough stances on white-collar crime.

Sholom Rubashkin, a former vice president of Agriprocessors Inc., also was ordered to pay $27 million in restitution by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Linda R. Reade, who had released a memorandum outlining the sentence a day earlier.

A jury convicted Rubashkin last fall of 86 federal financial fraud charges. Prosecutors sought a 25-year sentence. Rubashkin's attorney, Guy Cook, has said he plans to appeal.

Rubashkin oversaw the plant in Postville, Iowa, that gained attention in 2008 after a large-scale immigration raid in which authorities detained 389 illegal immigrants. The plant eventually filed for bankruptcy and was later sold.

After an investigation by a court-appointed trustee, prosecutors alleged Rubashkin intentionally deceived the company's lender and directed employees to create fake invoices in order to show St. Louis-based First Bank the plant had more money flowing in than it did. Cook tried to portray Rubashkin as a bumbling businessman who never even read the loan agreement with First Bank.

Rubashkin also faced 72 charges for allegedly allowing illegal immigrants to work at the plant but Reade dismissed those charges and a jury acquitted Rubashkin of state child labor charges earlier this month.

Stanford University law professor Robert Weisberg called Rubashkin's 27-year sentence "dubious" even though severe sentences are increasingly common in the wake of major fraud cases, such as that against Enron. The energy company's 2001 collapse cost thousands of jobs and billions of dollars.

Weisberg contended Rubashkin's case does not rise to such a level.

"I don't understand why it was a longer sentence than what the prosecution asked for, especially when the prosecution asked for a sentence that was already pretty severe," Weisberg said.

But Robert Rigg, a law professor at Drake University in Des Moines, said the slaughterhouse case is by no means small, "especially for Iowa."

He said the raid's economic impact and disruption the case caused in Postville and the state likely factored into Reade's sentencing.

"There is a lot of collateral damage here and you can understand why a judge would take the facts and the circumstances of the case as an aggravating factor," Rigg said.

Defense attorneys argue Reade improperly considered other factors, such as the raid and immigration case, in sentencing for the fraud conviction. They also say the 27 years could amount to their 51-year-old client spending the rest of his life in prison.

"One thing you have to take into account is are you giving the guy a life sentence or not?" Weisberg agreed. "I think that's something a judge needs to take into account."

Rigg said he had tried cases before Reade when she was a state court judge and called her a "stickler." He said she is a "harsher sentencer than most," but not the most harsh he's seen.

"Does she take a bite out of your client? Yes," Rigg said. "You better be prepared if you go in asking Judge Reade for leniency. I would not envy a lawyer who has to go in and argue a case before Judge Reade that has a vast impact."

Comments

[sage]

+ "Does she take a bite out of your client? Yes," Rigg said. "You better be prepared if you go in asking Judge Reade for leniency. I would not envy a lawyer who has to go in and argue a case before Judge Reade that has a vast impact." +

Putting this another way, Judge Reade, bless her, takes a big bite out of crime.

[cant understand how jews talk like this]

Sage, drop dead you are a ocher yisruael

[G]

You can't understand how jews talk like this?
But you just did worse !

Incredible how people twist the truth, and can't see themselves in other people....

Just for the record, these days "Failed Messiah" is one site I trust - because even if I don't agree with him on many things, at least HE'S HONEST..... We know who he is..... he doesn't PRETEND to be someone he's not.

[BPHocker]

The chabad beards knew they had a tough judge yet that the fall guy Sholom go in there and lie to her face. Great way tomotivate her to have leniency - cover up the crime and lie about even though your already in jail. B"H chabad is to blame for burying their poster boy. Having a beard means that the only honesty you have to have in business is not let your vaib at home find your hookers phone number on your cell because what she doesn't know doesn't exist. Reminds me of the old joke what do a jewish wife and a condom have in common? Both spend 99% of their time in your wallet. Bank fraud is nothing in der frimmer velt, if a goy is the victim who cares? That's the attitude. And now the goyte judge put their boy away and by the time he gets out he'll need a walker. Taught their asses a sweet lesson. And that's why every teen in BP Willy Fakewood does ex and weed, to escape the fakery that judaism has become. When your poster boy is a friggin crook your religion is in the toilet.

[Isa]

Rubaskin...

Relied on 'advice' from a dead Rebbe whether to go to trial or not [accept plea bargain]

Took dead Rebbe's picture to court [Lord only knows how MANY picture he had in his pockets.

Lets see... how does this go...
Oh yeah
Has eyes, yet cannot see. Has ears ,yet cannot hear. Has mouth, yet cannot speak.
The dead failed messiah cannot save and in reality amounts to idol worsip

[chaim]

i think that rubashkin desereved jail time, but this is excessive (damn, the monsters of the Bhopal disaster only got two years and they killed 12000 people!). unfortunately, however, it is his own fault. even beyond committing the crime, he could have taken the 12 year plea deal... and even having rejected that, it was his own choice to push for a trial in cedar rapids (with judge reade) instead of where it was originally slated to be held. these were very stupid choices and if they were recommended by his lawyer (and if such things are possible, i dont know) i would consider sueing his lawyer for malpractice. i wish for him that he had just owned up to his sins early on instead of this. poor fool

[Sarah]

exclusive full video of the powerful speeche by attorney Nat Lewin at the Boro Park rally in support of Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin.

http://collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=9618&alias=video-lewin-getzy-rubashkin

[uncle joe mccarthy]

the sentence is extreme and not in keeping with comparable crimes

he should appeal...and the sentence should be reduced

10 years would be fine

[itchiemayer]

I am so disgusted with this story and it keeps going and going. It is such a horrible Chillul Hashem and SMR's defenders make it worst with their cries of anti-semitism. Pesach Lerner purposely used inflammatory "code" words for anti-semitisim in his statment. Enough already, damn it! Rubashkin is to blame. He chose to break the law. The Judge beat him at his own game. It is easy to give charity with another's money, it is easier to take a Father away from his children when there is a loving nurturing family to back him up.
Rubashkin is to blame for his abandonment of his family. He should have kept his nose clean. What is it that taints the Rubashkin gene pool so that breaking the law is considered normal behavior. Let his legal team appeal, but everyone else should keep their mouths shut. Pesach lerner, Chaim Zwiebel, Pinny Lipschutz should all just shut up. They are adding to the chillul Hashem. Rubashkin is a thief, and to deny this is to be in a dreamworld. Instead of davening to Hashem that his sentence be reduced, why not daven for him to admit to his misdeeds and to do teshuva.
People should be disgusted that part of his excuses are the laws of the Torah. Oy, he has such Kibud av v'eim that he couldn't say no to his Father...oy if I don't cheat to keep my business running, yidden won't have access to kosher meat. He is so righteous, and that is what caused him to break the law. That is a load of crap.
The Judge did her job. She is known to be very tough, and Team Rubashkin tried to intimidate her. They lost. The Chillul Hashem would have been less if he would have taken the 12 years. I can't wait for this horrific story to fade into the sunset.

[Shmarya]

it was his own choice to push for a trial in cedar rapids (with judge reade) instead of where it was originally slated to be held.

The trial was originally supposed to be in Cedar Rapids. Rubashkin asked for a change of venue, and the trial was held in South Dakota.

Previous to that, Rubashkin's attorneys tried to get the trial moved further away, to have it tried in a different federal jurisdiction, so Lina Reade would not be the judge.

[sage]

Yes, they wanted it in Chicago or St. Louis, where jury tampering would be possible and another Judge on the bench.

But the good Judge saw right through their charade, and moved it to a place where there was no Chabad stronghold in the large vicinity.

[Bill]

"Team Rubashkin tried to intimidate [Judge Reade]. They lost." - Itchie

very well said, itch.

I predict it will be a cold day in hell before another haredi plays the anti-Semitism card publically again against a sitting United States District Court Judge.

In the United States, no one has more power, latittude, and discretion to f¥€£ up your life than a sitting U.S District Court Judge. That is a fact.

Haredim, by definition, fear is a language you can understand. You will learn, the bitter and hard way, to respect U.S District Court Judges.

[WoolSilkCotton]

++itchiemayer | June 22, 2010 at 06:02 PM
++

Itchie, kudos. Perfect summary.

[chaim]

thank you for the correction shmarya. though and he still would not have had this judge if he hadnt changed the venue in the first place. no? this could all have turned out better for him were it not for all the B.S he and his supporters tried to pull. he is still a poor and tragic fool

[effie]

People have constantly thumbed their noses at the court system and the laws. Maybe, now they will take it more seriously.

I can't feel sorry for him or his wife in that they knew how the underage workers were treated.

[Shmarya]

he still would not have had this judge if he hadnt changed the venue in the first place. no?

No. His case was assigned to this judge, and that is where it was going to stay unless the trial had been moved to Brooklyn, which was what Rubashkin originally asked for.

Bu that request was denied.

[effie]

Did they really think that they would ever move it to Brooklyn?

[Friar Yid]

The power of "positive" (delusional) thinking?

[sage]

I doubt it, but it was, in their warped minds, worth a try.

After this was denied, as Shmarya mentioned, they made a big tactical error in not giving up and continuing on with Chicago or St. Louis.

That's when Judge Reade checkmated them, by moving it to Souix Falls, far away from any Chabad stronghold.

[WoolSilkCotton]

They lost with cop killer Grossman, and they lost with Rubashkin.
When will Chabad realize they don't control the legal system outside of Brooklyn?

[David]

Shmarya: Can you please clarify one point? Is it true that the case was to be originally tried as state level and that it was transferred to the federal level at the request of the SMR legal team? If so, please can you explain to a non-US citizen the full significance of this?

Many thanks

[Shmarya]

Shmarya: Can you please clarify one point? Is it true that the case was to be originally tried as state level and that it was transferred to the federal level at the request of the SMR legal team? If so, please can you explain to a non-US citizen the full significance of this?

False.

[Malcolm Petrook]

I wonder if his prison clothes are made to comply with shatness?