The Classic Liberal Blog

Sholom Rubashkin, the vice-president of what had been the largest kosher meat processing supplier in the world, was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison for "financial fraud." Sholom Rubashkin is not a criminal however, and should be set free!

Rubashkin, a Hasidic Jew, ran a successful kosher meat processing business in Postville, Iowa. Processing meat of course, means slaughtering animals, so PETA attacked. After PETA's charges failed, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union came along and tried to organize his employees, but were unsuccessful.

At this point it became political, so rumors and accusations of illegal immigrants and child labor started to fly. Wanting to make an example out of Rubashkin (to look tough on immigration), the Bush administration raided his plant full-scale paramilitary style, with submachine guns, a Blackhawk helicopter, and everything (talk about overkill). After the raid, the government went on a fishing expedition, and eventually charged Rubashkin with "financial fraud" (because he had inflated his numbers with his bank).

Now mind you, Rubashkin had never missed a payment, nor did the bank ever complain. As a former Senior Loan Officer for a publicly traded bank, I can tell you with absolute confidence, the bank was happy to play along (and probably enticed him). It's a private contract between 2 private parties in which both parties were happy. They also nailed Rubashkin on some bizarre law from the 1920's that requires payment for cattle within 24 hours (a law his supplier obviously didn't even know).

Rubashkin had happy creditors, gave liberally to the community, and ran a productive business. But eager federal prosecutors regularly suborn perjury, twisting arms to get the testimony they want and making up their own reality as they go along. Being that each one of us commits at least 3 felonies a day (Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent), it's easy for them to do this too. From Bill Anderson:

Because the federal courts have eviscerated the ancient doctrine of mens rea, which means that prosecutors needed to prove that a person charged intended to commit a crime, intent to defraud no longer matters. In fact, one can argue that Agriprocessors did not "defraud" First Bank at all, and there are indications that the bank knew that Agriprocessors was overstating its revenues and underestimating its costs (something the federal government does every year, but never results in anyone’s arrest), but did not care because its good customer paid its bills on time. The company was profitable, and so was the bank.

The story gets worse ...

After charging Rubashkin with fraud, the prosecutors argued he was a "flight risk" and must be imprisoned. Why? Because a) he's a Jew and the nation of Israel grants expedited citizenship to Jews, and b) he had $20,000 cash, along with his passports in a lockbox in his house. But keeping money and documents in a lockbox is hardly suspicious, millions of people across the country do it everyday. And are the prosecutors actually implying that all Jews charged with a crime present a "flight risk?"

Free Sholom Rubashkin!

Today, however, most federal criminal law falls into the "public welfare" category, in which a person charged has failed to perform a certain so-called public duty, or has failed to follow a set of rules which often are arbitrarily set up and even more arbitrarily administered. Not surprisingly, we have seen federal criminal law put to an increasing number of political applications. The legal language might be similar to what it was in the past, but now it is describing certain things that might have political meaning, but describe simple disobedience from the federally-prescribed way of doing things.

The irony is that the feds are calling this a huge "fraud," but the only people really being defrauded are the victims of this federal assault. Let us look at the real damage that the feds have inflicted upon people:

• A thriving business has been shut down, and hundreds of people now are out of work, and a town is reeling economically and financially;
• A woman will be deprived of her husband for many years, and a number of children will not have a father;
• First Bank was heavily damaged by this action in a way that never would have been the case had the feds not decided to "rescue" the bank from its "fraudulent client";
• Kosher meat is more expensive and much less available than it was before the government destroyed Agriprocessors.

No doubt, federal authorities consider this whole affair to be a great victory, and they are telling the rest of us how they are protecting us from fraudsters and exploiters. In truth, the real fraudsters and exploiters here are the federal agencies that took part in this action, and the various groups that were cheerleaders for it.

Literally, thousands of people were harmed by what the government did. However, no one from the federal government lost a dime.

All I've done is provide a summary. Please click over and read through Bill Anderson's excellent piece on Sholom Rubashkin's case. He's been railroaded. Free Sholom Rubashkin!

Former AGs Say Sentence is ‘Piling On’

Nicholas Katzenbach
Attorney General of the United States (1965-66)

Edwin Meese III
Attorney General of the United States (1985-88)

Larry D. Thompson
Deputy Attorney General of the United States (200 1-03)
United States Attorney, Northern District of Georgia (1982-86)

A. Bates Butler III
United States Attorney District of Arizona (1980-8 1)

Robert Cleary
United States Attorney
District of New Jersey (1999-2002) Southern District of Illinois (2002)

Charles Redding Pitt
United States Attorney
Middle District of Alabama (1994-1998)

James H. Reynolds
United States Attorney
Northern District of Iowa (1977-82)

Benito Romano
United States Attorney
Southern District of New York (1989)

John W. Stokes Jr. United States Attorney
Northern District of Georgia (1969-77)

Brett Tolman
United States Attorney
District of Utah (2006-09)

Alan Vinegrad
United States Attorney
Eastern District of New York (2001-02)

Free Sholom Rubashkin!