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Update: Jury finds Sholom Rubashkin guilty on 86 charges in fraud trial
Des Moines Register
The jury in the fraud trial of Sholom Rubashkin returned guilty verdicts in 86 of the 91 fraud charges he faced.
Lawyers closed their cases Monday with clashing portraits of the former executive of the Agriprocessors meat plant in eastern Iowa.
Prosecutors painted Rubashkin as the ringleader of an enormous fraud and immigrant-harboring scheme that festered at the plant for years. Defense lawyers said the charges stemmed from overzealous prosecutors who failed to prove their allegations.
A seven-woman, five-man jury has been deciding whether the former Agriprocessors Inc. vice president is guilty of 91 federal fraud crimes. Jurors received the case Monday afternoon.
Here's a newer story from the Register:
Update: Sholom Rubashkin guilty on 86 charges in fraud trial involving Postville meat plant
Des Moines Register
Sioux Falls, S.D. A jury has convicted Sholom Rubashkin of 86 federal charges for his part in a massive fraud scheme at his former meat plant, Agriprocessors Inc., in Postville.
Jurors declared Rubashkin guilty of bank fraud, making false statements to a bank, wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering and aiding of abetting.
The jury found him not guilty of five counts of violating a law requiring payment of livestock providers within 24 hours.
Rubashkin's attorney, Guy Cook, said they will appeal the decision.
Rubashkin, 50, was immediately taken into custody. As he was led out of the courtroom, he blew a kiss to his family and well-wishers.
A federal judge will sentence Rubashkin Nov. 18 in Cedar Rapids.
Rubashkin had been offered a plea deal by federal prosecutors prior to the start of the trial, but told supporters that he would not accept because he was innocent, a close family friend told The Des Moines Register today.
The Rabbi Shea Hecht, chairman of the National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education, said Rubashkin's supporters urged him to take the offer, which would have included prison time.
But the Rubashkin meat plant in Postville, had "moral problems" with the proposal and insisted that he had done nothing illegal, Hecht said.
The plea-deal conversation took place during a meeting with Rubashkin and his lawyers in Crown Heights, a Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhood and Rubashkin family stronghold, Hecht said. Hecht said it happened shortly before Yom Kippur, a major Jewish holiday, which this year began at sunset on Sept. 27.
Hecht said Rubashkin's legal expenses - paid by a Brooklyn-based defense committee, of which he is a member - have already exceeded $1 million.
Prosecutors alleged during the trial that Rubashkin falsified sales records to defraud the plant's St. Louis-based lender. The fake invoices and shipping papers created the illusion of sales that had never happened, and allowed Rubashkin to borrow more out of a $35 million credit line.
Rubashkin also allegedly diverted customer payments into the wrong bank account, when the money should have gone directly to lender. Prosecution witnesses testified that Rubashkin used the money for personal expenses and to keep the plant running.
The five-man, seven-woman jury began deliberations on the case Monday afternoon after a nearly month-long trial with more than 60 witnesses and reams of financial documents. They continued deliberations on Tuesday, had Wednesday off in observance of Veterans Day, returning on Thursday. The jury returned to the courtroom at about 4:40 p.m. Thursday.
Rubashkin still faces 72 immigration-related federal charges as well as state allegations that he violated child labor laws. The federal immigration trial is set to begin in December in Sioux Falls.
Agriprocessors Inc. was the site of a May 2008 immigration raid that led to the arrest of 389 immigrant workers. Rubashkin was first charged in late October 2008, but insisted that he was innocent.
Here's the AP's version:
Jury: Fmr. Slaughterhouse Manager Guilty Of Fraud
NIGEL DUARASIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) ― A former manager of an Iowa kosher slaughterhouse that was the site of a massive immigration raid was convicted Thursday on 86 financial fraud charges that could bring a prison sentence of hundreds of years.
Sholom Rubashkin still faces a second federal trial on 72 immigration charges.
Jurors returned the verdict against Rubashkin, 50, on their second day of deliberations after a nearly monthlong trial. Rubashkin had faced 91 charges, including bank, mail and wire fraud, and money laundering. He was found not guilty on five of 19 charges alleging he did not make timely payments to livestock dealers. A sentencing date was not immediately set.
"We respect the jury's hard work. It was a difficult case. We disagree with the verdict," defense attorney Guy Cook said after the decision. "There were many legal errors made by the prosecution in the trial of this case and following sentencing we will appeal."
Prosecutors offered no immediate comment and referred all questions to U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Bob Teig, who did not immediately return a call seeking comment Thursday evening.
Prosecutors alleged that as a manager of the former Agriprocessors, Inc., plant in Postville, Iowa, Rubashkin intentionally deceived the company's lender. Former Agriprocessors employees testified that Rubashkin personally directed them to create fake invoices in order to show St. Louis-based First Bank that the plant had more money flowing in than it really did.
Cook argued Rubashkin never read the loan agreement with First Bank and tried to portray him as a bumbling businessman in over his head.
Rubashkin was detained after the jury was dismissed, despite a request from his defense team that he be allowed to remain free on bail. A hearing was set for Wednesday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to determine whether Rubashkin will be freed before his second trial, which is scheduled to begin Dec. 2.
The first trial was held in Sioux Falls after Rubashkin's attorneys requested a change of venue due to pretrial publicity.
Rubashkin turned around in court several times while Reade read the verdict and smiled at his wife, Leah, at one point passing her a note.
"We look forward to continuing this and getting the verdict he deserves," Leah Rubashkin said after the decision. "Obviously it's not a pleasant thing ... unfortunately not everything was allowed to be heard by the jury."
After the verdict was announced, Cook renewed a previous motion for a "directed verdict," essentially asking for a dismissal of the charges, and specified the money laundering charges because the jury determined Rubashkin did not personally profit. Reade took the motion under consideration.
During closing arguments, U.S. Attorney Peter Deegan said Rubashkin was aware of the fraud at the plant and to assume otherwise was "ridiculous." Cook said Rubashkin may have practiced business unethically, but never committed a crime.
Over the protests of Rubashkin's defense team, Reade also allowed former employees to testify that days before the May 2008 immigration raid, Rubashkin scrambled to get new documents for his workers, at least 389 of whom were found to be illegal immigrants.
The plant filed for bankruptcy months after the raid and has since been sold. Prosecutors claim evidence of the massive fraud scheme was uncovered during an investigation by a court-appointed trustee.