The trial of former kosher slaughterhouse executive Sholom Rubashkin began in South Dakota on October 12, though only after a failed effort to reach a plea bargain, according to a close confidant of the defendant.
Rubashkin, the former CEO of the Agriprocessors slaughterhouse, was arrested last year, five months after his company was the subject of a massive immigration raid; most of the 163 counts that Rubashkin has been charged with relate to bank fraud and harboring undocumented immigrants.
Rabbi Shea Hecht, a leading Chabad Lubavitch rabbi who has provided support to Rubashkin’s defense, told the Forward that Rubashkin, 49, wanted to strike a plea bargain with the U.S. attorneys to avoid a jury trial.
“There were negotiations — an offer was put on the table,” Hecht said. “He had to refuse the offer because compared to what he did wrong, they were asking for too much. There was no way that a man should give the prime of his life away.”
Hecht would not discuss the terms that Rubashkin would have accepted — but he did say that Rubashkin was willing to serve a prison term in order to strike a bargain. Hecht met with Rubashkin in person when the court gave Rubashkin permission to visit New York for the Jewish high holidays. Rubashkin has otherwise been out on bail in Iowa. Hecht said that when Rubashkin visited Hecht’s New York office, he expressed a desire to deal with the charges.
“He said, ‘Listen, things were done wrong, but not what they are claiming,’” Hecht said. “He was very confident.”
The United States attorney’s office that is prosecuting Rubashkin would not say whether a plea bargain had been discussed.
A lawyer for Rubashkin, Guy Cook, also would not comment. Rubashkin has pleaded not guilty to all 163 counts.
Rubashkin and his family are members of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic sect, and the family has received hefty support from other members of the sect in advance of the trial. The day before the trial began, dozens of children gathered at the last Chabad rebbe’s grave to pray “for a miraculous victory” for Rubashkin, according to a colorful poster for the event.
Earlier in the day, a bus load of Rubashkin’s supporters left from the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn and drove overnight to Sioux Falls. A woman who answered the phone at the number printed on an advertisement for the bus ride would not provide her name. She said that the funding for the trip came from private sources.
“It was a grassroots effort to pack the courtroom with supporters — and hopefully we’ll pull it off,” she said. “We’ll be able to show the court that this man is being charged incorrectly — and he really is what they call a tzaddik,” or holy man.
On October 13, as the trial began, The Des Moines Register reported that the court facilities were inundated with young supporters of Rubashkin. Rubashkin’s nephew, Yossi, told the paper: “I’m extremely optimistic about the trial. That might not make sense to you. It’s just faith. Faith in God.”
Rubashkin has also received significant financial support from a committee formed by the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education, a Chabad organization that helps imprisoned Chabadniks. Hecht is chairman of the NCFJE, and he said that the group had already given funding “in the six figures” to help Rubashkin’s case. Hecht’s brother, Sholem Ber Hecht, is leading the committee dedicated to Rubashkin’s case.
“The community sees it as an attack, number one, on kosher food, and number two, as an attack on religious Jews,” Shea Hecht said.
The judge overseeing the case, Linda Reade, moved the trial from Iowa to Sioux Falls, citing the extensive press coverage. Reade warned the lawyers on both sides not to speak to the press in South Dakota. Rubashkin’s lawyer, Cook, told the Forward that the move gives Rubashkin “a chance at a fair trial.”
Rubashkin will face two separate trials supervised by Reade — the first relating to the bank fraud charges and the second, beginning as soon as the first ends, covering the immigration charges. The first trial will revolve largely around financial transactions involving a multi-million dollar loan that Agriprocessors received. The U.S. attorney intends to prove that Rubashkin “instructed employees at Agriprocessors to create invoices and bills of lading for sales that never occurred,” according to court documents.
Prosecutors intend to call as witnesses several former company managers who pleaded guilty to lesser charges in exchange for cooperating with the government.
In court documents, Rubashkin’s lawyers have argued that the government will have trouble proving that he intended to defraud the bank and the government. The lawyers are submitting evidence that shows Rubashkin’s civic involvement and charitable work, including pictures of him at worship and in the company of rabbis and Iowa politicians.
Contact Nathaniel Popper at popper@forward.com
the prosecution offerd first, a 9-15 prison term that would wipe everything both court cases instead of the 20 if found guilty. and he refused saing it was too long for some thing that he already got any punishment he may deserved if actually guilty which he isnt. and there decided to continue with the trial very optomistically.
I'll tell you what might not make sense to me.
If it is "just faith. Faith in God”, then why has the NCFJE given funds "in the six figures" to Rabushkin's lawyers?
If the NCFJE has given funds "in the six figures" to Rabushkin's lawyers, then how many other imprisoned Chabadniks have therefor been denied funds?
Which part of prosecuting Rabushkin for "instructing employees at Agriprocessors to create invoices and bills of lading for sales that never occurred” - using testimony from former comapany managers - is either an "attack on kosher food" or an "attack on religious Jews”? Did anyone eat the bills of lading?
Oh ... isn't sending dozens of children to the last Chabad rebbe’s grave to pray “for a miraculous victory for Rubashkin" against Jewish law? And isn't that essentially a Christian practice? Which would thereby also be against Jewish law?
Can some reasonable Chabad person explain any of this to my merely Talmudic satisfaction?
Rubashkin should be ashamed of himself, he is a disgrace to Jewish people. He claims it was bad business decisions that prompted him to have illegals as young as 13 yrs. on the killing floors, this is not bad business but ruthless greed. He cannot hide and he cannot expect us to forgive him. He will have to pay the price of this affront to humanity.
Rubahkin is 49. How is a 9-15 year prison term, which could be reduced to less than five years with time off for good behavior, "giving the prime of his life away"?
And not only is he an Orthodox Jew, his supporters now say he is a "tzaddik." He may even be a good man, a pious man, but I've seen or read nothing that puts him in tzaddik category. If he's one of the 13 holding up the universe, I hope the other 12 are extraordinarily meritorious.
Finally, his admission of guilt leaves much to be desired. It's phrased in what's been called the indeterminate passive voice. Not "I did some wrong things," but "Some wrong things were done."
What thngs and by whom? My guess is that if he were forced to fill in these blanks, the wrong things wouldn't add up to much and the name would be someone other than our newly minted "tzaddik."
Shades of the Nixon White House, where the only substantive admission of guilt in the Watergate controversy was that "Mistakes were made."
Rubashkin assumes the role of "the persecuted Jew"? And others come to his support in the same mode? Absurd. Rubashkin allegedly broke more than one law and so he is "the prosecuted Jew". Better yet, leave the fact that he is a Jew out of the discussion because it is irrelevant. Rubashkin is facing trial because there is sufficient evidence that he committed crimes.
shalom rubashkin should sit for 150 years as he is worse crook than madoff he is the biggest criminal
I am tired of hearing that Jews NEVER commit crimes. Why is Chabad leading the charge. Because he is innocent or because he is a member? Praying at the Rebbe's gravesite for a miraculous victory for Rubashkin, disgraceful. Doesn't being a religious person mean that one doesn't cheat and break the rules of society? Just because one lays tefillin and davins daily doesn't make you a religious man. If you break the law it makes you a hypocrite.
and by the way, a tzaddik wouldn't be in the business of factory farming.
Rabbi Shea Hecht was on the radio this past Saturday night and categorically denied that there was ever an offer from the government put on the table. He denied ever making such a statement. Does Nathaniel Popper stand by his story, or will there be a retraction?
Why did this happen in the first instance? It happened because of the way they were killing the cattle and those cattle dying horrifying deaths.
I've had business dealings with Shalom Rubashkin. The man is not a straight shooter. Luckily for Shalom, I am not the judge in this case.
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