Rubashkin Gives "Tearful Apology"

“I guess this is the time to apologize to my community, and especially to my dear wife and children, for the harm I have caused them. There are no words to express the grief that I feel and have caused them.”

Rubashkin gives tearful apology in court 
BY GRANT SCHULTE • Des Moines Register

Cedar Rapids, Ia. — Sholom Rubashkin invoked his faith and family Thursday in a tearful apology for the bank fraud and immigration scandal at his former eastern Iowa meatpacking plant.

The former top executive at Agriprocessors Inc. told a federal judge he had “faith in God that mercy and justice will be done” during his sentence hearing in federal court. U.S. Chief District Judge Linda Reade is expected to release a written sentence order May 27.

Rubashkin stumbled through his statement to Reade, and stopped several times in midsentence to collect himself. He slid a trembling left hand under his waist shackles, jingling the chains, and stared down at his table.

“I guess this is the time to apologize to my community, and especially to my dear wife and children, for the harm I have caused them,” Rubashkin said. “There are no words to express the grief that I feel and have caused them.”

Rubashkin mentioned baal teshuva, Hebrew for “master of return,” a concept of the Orthodox Jewish in which one repents and returns to God. In hindsight, he said he should have followed his dream to become a teacher, as he was for a year in Atlanta.

“I’m conflicted that I allowed myself to be drafted into the family business … against my wishes,” he said.

Behind him, in the public gallery, his wife, Leah, watched silently with other Rubashkin relatives and friends who were in the courtroom.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Deegan Jr. asked Reade to impose a 25-year sentence for crimes that show “a complete and utter disrespect for the law.”

In court papers, prosecutors listed factors of Rubashkin’s crimes that add to a mandatory life prison term under federal sentencing guidelines. Deegan departed from the advisory guideline in his closing, but said the “astounding violation of immigration laws” and massive fraud scheme justified the sentence.

Defense lawyer Guy Cook said 25 years effectively amounts to a life sentence for the 50-year-old with a wife and 10 children. Leah Rubashkin testified Wednesday that their 16-year-old autistic son, Moishe, has regressed in his development without his father.

Deegan pointed to Rubashkin’s religious upbringing and family as evidence that he had support for an upstanding life. Deegan said the fraud was likely the largest ever in Iowa’s northern judicial district.
“Defendants don’t go to prison because of their life story,” he said. “Defendants go to prison because of their crimes.”

Rubashkin was convicted of 86 financial fraud charges in November. Defense lawyers have asked for a sentence no greater than six years.

Cook pointed to Rubashkin’s clean criminal record before the raid, and the nonviolent nature of the offenses. Cook said Rubashkin had only borrowed more money than he should have to keep his father’s business afloat.

“Sholom Rubashkin never intended to harm anyone,” Cook said. “The loss that did occur — the scope of it — was not foreseeable by him.”

The statements in U.S. District Court capped a two-day sentence hearing.

In all the accounts I've read describing yesterday's sentencing hearing, I've yet to see one where Sholom Rubashkin actually apologizes to the people he wronged.

No apology for suppliers he did not pay, workers he exploited, the banks he defrauded, or to the church leaders and citizens of Postville and surrounding communities who had to rush in and pick up the pieces of the disaster he wrought.

He wronged his family? Sure he did – but only because his crimes were uncovered by law enforcement. He wronged his workers, his suppliers, and the banks that lent him money? Sure he did – intentionally in most cases.

And what does it mean to apologize to "my community"?

Obviously, that can be taken to mean all of Postville and the surrounding area. But it can also be taken to mean "my community" – the Jewish community of Postville and beyond.

I hope Sholom Rubashkin was more specific during other parts of his testimony. I hope he apologized to all citizens of Postville and the surrounding area, Jew and non-Jew alike. I hope he apologized to his workers, to his suppliers and to the banks.

Because if he did not do so, his apology really means very little, and the judge will most likely see that.