EXCLUSIVE: AGRIPROCESSORS BUYER REVEALED [Updated]

But why has the sale not yet been announced?

[Updated at 11:15 pm. 5-21-09 and again at 3:45 cdt 5-22-09. Original Post 3:52 pm 5-21-09.]

A senior government source told me today that Hershey Friedman bought Agriprocessors' $10 million line of credit two weeks ago. He told me Friedman was buying Agriprocessors, and he was surprised that a sale has yet to be announced.

The source's information matches with rumors circulating in the haredi community regarding the sale.

Friedman was described to me by a well-placed source intimately familiar with the haredi world as man involved in "shady" deals. The descriptive language used was extremely harsh.

Friedman is also supposed to be a large donor to Lakewood Yeshiva. His family is said to have been in the meat business (and may still be – please see below).

I'm told Friedman's brother is Lieby, known legally as Lawrence. Lawrence pled guilty to Medicaid fraud in 2001. He agreed to repay $48 million.

The New York times described Friedman's indictment on charges of grand larceny, conspiracy and falsifying medical records this way:

The 21-count indictment accused Mr. Friedman of drawing robust immigrants into the centers, which are intended for the frail, and billing the Medicaid program for unnecessary or nonexistent services.…

The indictment was issued after an 18-month investigation, in which the Health Department ''fully'' cooperated with the attorney general, the department has said.

During that time, however, the department approved six expansions of Mr. Friedman's business, which enabled him to increase his billings from $4 million a year to $47 million by the time of his arrest.

Mr. Friedman's two adult-day-care centers -- intended to provide physical therapy and rehabilitation to the disabled elderly who can still live independently -- quickly grew to account for one-quarter of all state adult-day-care Medicaid billings, the attorney general has said.

Lawrence Friedman's crime was allgedly facilitated by a pair of Satmar businessmen close to New York's then-governor, and the trail of this Medicaid fraud seems firmly placed in Williamsburg and the Satmar hasidic community.

B&H Photo, the Satmar-owned electronics dealer, received more than $2 million of this dirty money from B&H Home Health Care. The two companies are allegedly not related and no purpose for the payment is clear, although one could suspect a form of money laundering, similar to what Agriprocessors and the Rubashkins did for Satmar-owned Allou Healthcare.

Moshe Friedman owns Marvid Poultry in Montreal. A source tells me Moshe and Hershey are brothers. Others say this is not so. [The others were correct.]

Marvid was involved in a nasty labor dispute that saw the company put union workers out of jobs (or have their ours greatly reduced), while the company replaced them with temporary non-union workers.

This isn't much different than Agriprocessors hiring workers at $13 per hour, working them for a few weeks and then firing them without cause, and with the provision that they can be rehired in the near future, but at a much lower rate of pay.

The exclusive distributor of Marvid in the US is Satmar-owned Alle Processing. One of Marvid's kosher supervising agencies is the OU.

Why hasn't Agriprocessors' sale gone through?

Maybe the US Attorney's vetting process is going slowly. Or maybe the Friedman's are having trouble structuring or financing the deal.

Or perhaps the sale will be announced over this slow Memorial Day weekend, when no one to speak of will be paying attention.

Will Friedman buy Agriprocessors?

If honest business practices are required, then the answer would appear be no.

But that may not be required for the Agriprocessors' sale.