UPDATE: Who Are Rubashkin And His Rabbis Counting On? Could It Be Rubashkin's Brother-In-Law Rabbi Milton Balkany – The Infamous 'Brooklyn Bundler'?

In the news today along with his brother-in-law and sister-in-law of AgriProcessors in Postville, Iowa for bundling campain contributions to Florida Republican Katherine Harris, Rabbi Milton Balkany – dubbed "Robbi" by the NY Post – has a rather checkered past:

First, we have a scandal involving the misuse of almost $1,000,000 in Federal grant monies meant for disabled students.

Then, we have his threat to have a US Senator's aide – himself an Orthodox Jew – excommunicated if he failed to cooperate with Rabbi Balkany's scheme. (Please see the articles posted in the first three comments of the comments section.)

And then it seems that Rabbi Balkany and his institution owed OHEL – an institution that serves mentally handicapped Jews – and it's director more than $100,000 in back rent and more than $50,000 in personal loans.

Taken to Beit Din (religious court) by OHEL, Rabbi Balkany lost – and then refused to pay his judgement. (This is a PDF download.)

Do you wonder if Rabbi Balkany is involved in the USDA's stonewalling of the Rubashkin investigation?

If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on heavy Balkany involvement. Look at his track record.

UPDATE: Here are two more articles on Balkany.

The first, Jail Breaks – Influential Rabbi Barred From Lobbying Federal Prison Officials.

The second is a recap of the Federal indictment, including the threat to have an Orthodox aide to a sitting US Senator excommunicated after the aide wrote memos complaining about Balkany's heavy-handed efforts to compel Israeli government officials to use U.S. aid money to fund projects Balkany favored in Israel.