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Des Moines Register
Judge considers releasing ex-Agriprocessors leader
BY TONY LEYS
Cedar Rapids, Ia. - A federal prosecutor warned Wednesday that if a judge releases Sholom Rubashkin from jail, the former Agriprocessors executive could quickly flee to Israel.
“The risk of flight here is acute, it’s too great,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Deegan said in court.
But Rubashkin’s lawyer said his client is tightly tied to his family and the community of Postville, where he ran the packing plant for years. The lawyer, Baruch Weiss, added that Israel has a strong extradition agreement with the United States. Even if he somehow could get to Israel after surrendering his U.S. passport, Weiss said, Rubashkin surely would be sent back. “With these sorts of charges, he will not find a home in Israel, and he knows that.”
Rubashkin was arrested Friday on a federal bank-fraud charge. He had been free on bond after being charged last month with conspiring to hire undocumented workers. Weiss asked Magistrate Judge Jon Scoles to release Rubashkin after increasing the bond to $2 million and ordering him to stay in his house or in the homes of friends or relatives in Iowa or elsewhere. He said dozens of friends and relatives were willing to put up their homes as collateral for the bond.
Scoles said he would consider the matter and make a written ruling, probably on Thursday. Rubashkin was returned to jail, at least for the night.
The plant has been struggling to survive since May, when immigration agents raided it and arrested nearly 400 workers.
GazetteOnline
Ex-Agriprocessors CEO asks to be let out of jail
By Erika Binegar
CEDAR RAPIDS - U.S. Magistrate Jon Scoles hopes to rule Thursday on whether Sholom Rubashkin, the former CEO of the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, can be released from jail.
Attorneys for the government and for Rubashkin argued against and for the release in a court hearing in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids this afternoon.
Rubashkin, 49, has been in jail since Friday, when he was charged argued with bank fraud.
Prosecutors argued that Rubashkin is a flight risk and, if released, could tamper with evidence or obstruct justice.
Rubashkin's attorneys argued he had significant ties to the community and his family that would prevent him from fleeing. They noted he did not flee when he was arrested Oct. 30 on federal charges related to employment of illegal immigrants. They suggested home detention or moving him far enough away from the Postville plant so he would prove no threat to the prosecution.
The Agriprocessors plant is shut down and the company is in bankruptcy proceedings.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency is charging that Rubashkin, a rabbi and son of the company's founder, directed that certain customer payments be placed into accounts unrelated to the business instead of a Decorah bank account designated for repaying a business loan.
Payments were misdirected to accounts of the Torah Education Program of Northeast Iowa and the Kosher Community Grocery of Postville, the affidavit said. Most of the money was later deposited into the proper account. But as long as the payments — which totaled more than $16 million — were not deposited in the Decorah bank, they remained on Agriprocessors' books as accounts receivable, the government alleged.
Accounts receivable are collateral for more borrowing under Agriprocessors loan agreement. As a result, the deception let Agriprocessors borrow much more than its loan agreement permitted.
If convicted in the bank fraud case, Rubashkin could be sentenced to 30 years in prison and fines of $1 million or twice the bank's financial loss on the bank fraud complaint, according to the U.S. Attorney Matt Dummermuth.
How any attorney can argue the merits of Israel's extradition treaty with the US and laud Israel's enforcement is beyond me.
A simple look at the history of the Avrohom Mondrowitz case shows Israel is a safe haven for ultra-Orthodox criminals.
[Hat Tip: Archie.]
UPDATE 6:30 pm CST – The Iowa Independent clarifies the prosecution's position:
…Rubashkin was represented in today’s detention hearing by New York attorney Baruch Weiss, who was granted permission by the court earlier today to practice in the Iowa federal courtroom. Weiss will only represent Rubashkin in relation to the detention hearing. His counsel in the case will be F. Montgomery Brown of West Des Moines.
Although prosecuting attorney Peter Deegan argued that Rubashkin is both a flight risk and that he has shown a propensity to tamper with case evidence, Weiss said that the man’s significant ties to the Postville community would keep him in the northeastern Iowa town. In response to the tampering accusation, Weiss said that his client could be limited only to his home, or relocation…