Does a kosher butcher’s fraud mandate a life sentence?

Jerusalem Post ^ | 4-21-10 | SHMULEY BOTEACH

[Piranha]

I’m pretty thick skinned. If I thought your post was abusive I would have reported it to the mods; I didn’t do that.

Your post seems to say that Eastern European Jews should be held to a different standard and suspected of corruption or contempt for society and its laws. I disagree; I don’t like the soft bigotry of low expectations, regardless of who “benefits”. If a Jew or a gentile, religious or non-religious, rabbi or priest (or imam) violates the law he deserves to be prosecuted and, if convicted, should get a sentence that is in line with precedents absent a compelling reason to be either more or less lenient with him.

One of the benefits of Free Republic is that people can write what’s on their mind and if someone disagrees they can take issue with it. I didn’t take your comment personally and I hope that I didn’t respond personally.

[avoth]

Thanks. We’ll wait and see what happens when the smoke settles.

[happygrl]

Unfortunately, some of them brought this attitude with them to America.

That is not uncommon, unfortunately, among a wide variety of immigrants to this country, not jsut limited to Jewish immigrants.

A lot of the fraud and abuse perpetrated in Medicare, especially, has been commited by immigrant doctors.

[240B]

Isn’t it ironic, to quote Alantis, that with Obama we are moving closer to them rather than being ‘ore le goyim (a light unto the nations) which has been America’s traditional role.

That is why we are seeing more and more immigrants opposed to Obama.

They, more than most, know who and what Obama is.

[rmlew]

Given that this was a case of fraud against a bank and immigration fraud (prefernetial hiring of illegals over locals), the setnece may have been harsher that other white collar crimes. However, there is something to be said for imposing a serious senstence in a high profile cause “Pour Encourager les Autres”: to encourage others to do their duty.

[Kenny Bunk]

prosecutors are seeking

So. let them seek. Seeking is seeking. Getting is another matter. Oi vey, must I explain everything to you people?

The bag of money? The travel documents? I can explain everything. Israel? Never heard of it. Near Miami? Here, you should eat something.

So. I am a betting man. I say 5 in Club Fed, out in 3. Any takers? A Meyer Lansky this is not. This is a rabbi with chicken fat on his hands, not a Bernie Madoff.

So how will we care for the children while he's away?

[SJackson]

I've not followed this case that closely, but it's my understanding that there were no immigration charges, those were hung on underlings. So it's bank fraud, a serious crime. I understand the concept of making an example, though I admit it makes me a bit uncomfortable in the context of American jurisprudence. Life in prison? No, that's disproportionate. And in the real world, I doubt one in a million of les Autres has a clue who this guy is. Mabye one in a half million. I love Candide.

[rmlew]

The senstense may be disproportionate, but Rubashin is a shondes. Those people trying to help him may as well be antisemites or Iranian agents. There is nothing to be gained helping this SOB and we have only so much moral capital. Given that Iran is building a bomb, wasting it on this man is the equivalent of murdering Israelis. Those Jewish leaders supporting Rubashin and the Pollard brigade are too stupid to look beyond there own nose.

[SJackson]

We agree, the sentencing request is disproportionate. None of that other stuff matters. I’m no fan of the guy, and recall taking a lump or two for my criticism at the time, but this stuff isn’t relevant when it comes to how long he’s behind bars. American’s don’t require disproportionate punishment for a Jewish criminal as a condition of supporting, or not supporting, Israel.

[rmlew]

I’m not saying that he should be punished more as a Jew. I am saying that there is no gain in the community waisting good will on this. We have more important things. He is a crominal, and if he actually serves 15 or 30 years means little.

[SJackson]

I agree with that. I wasn’t commenting from the perspective of the Jewish community, I’ve no basis to do that.

[Jormungandr]

Lemme get this straight: A life sentence for fraud to a small business owner, while the systematic fraud of big business goes overlooked?

A shame.

[Piranha]

Your hatred of Rubashkin is perplexing and uncharacteristic of the thoughtful words you have posted here for years.

This man was a vice president of the largest kosher meat processing company in the United States, distributing reliably kosher meat throughout the country. He was prosecuted based upon false certifications made to a bank under a contract and now prosecutors are asking the judge to sentence him to jail for the rest of his life. The only sentence in American jurisprudence that is worse is the death sentence and that is under broad attack.

Again, I am not arguing the innocence of Sholom Rubashkin. I think that the requested sentence is grossly disproportionate and that a terrible injustice would be done if he were to receive that sentence.

[rmlew]

Your hatred of Rubashkin is perplexing and uncharacteristic of the thoughtful words you have posted here for years.
Hardly. He and Agriprosessors are an embarrassment for all Jews. I think Bloom's book, Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America, probably takes the clash of cultures too far and shows the Hasidim in a bad light. However, Rubashin et all did not show particular trust in the locals at Postville and did not do enough to include them. Agriprossessors then began hiring practices that discoureged American employment (low balling wages) and low and behold 1/3 of emplyees were illegal aliens at Postville. Over 300 were rounded up! One illegela is an error. 300 is a management decision to screw the locals.

[Piranha]

The court agreed to bifurcate the trial into two parts, holding a separate trial for the charges involving hiring (and conspiring to hire) illegal aliens. The basis for this separation was the prejudice against Rubashkin on the non-illegals charges that would have flowed from the illegals charges.

Yet the government tried Rubashkin on the illegals charges during the first trial anyway, and I have no doubt that the bias that flowed from those charges influenced the jury as it decided on the other charges. The way that the government reintroduced the illegals charges was to charge him with bank fraud for delivering compliance certificates to the bank in connection with his loan, certifying that the company was not in violation of any laws. Then they introduced evidence that the company was in violation of the laws barring hiring of illegal aliens. As a result, he was found guilt, not of hiring illegal aliens, but of committing bank fraud.

Do you think that a lifetime sentence is standard or appropriate for hiring 300+ illegals? It is not. Here are some other cases:

(a) Swift & Co. - Although Swift was a major employer of illegal workers in six states and 1,297 illegal employees were found on those premises in the December 2006 raids, neither the company nor any of its officials were criminally charged. In Iowa, for example, one United Food and Commercial Workers (”UFCW”) official at Swift’s Marshalltown, Iowa, plant was charged in an Iowa federal court with harboring illegal immigrants and was sentenced to one year and one day in prison and a $2000 fine after being found guilty by a jury. Another Swift employee who had pleaded guilty was sentenced to probation.

(b) Michael Bianco, Inc. (”MBI”) - A manufacturer of leather goods and handbags in New Bedford, Mass. was raided by ICE on March 6, 2007, after an undercover operation from which it was learned that Francesco Insolia, the owner, intentionally sought out illegal immigrants and exploited them with punitive fines and terrible working conditions. Approximately 326 illegal workers were detained in the raid. Insolia was sentenced in January 2009 to one year and one day in prison and fined $30,000. The company was fined $1.51 million and ordered to pay $460,000 in restitution.

(c) Action Rags USA - A Houston, Texas clothing and rag exporter company was raided by ICE on June 25, 2008 - little more than a month after the Agri raid. Approximately 85% of the business’ workforce consisted of illegal Mexican immigrants, and approximately 150 immigrants were arrested. The owner, Mubarik Kahlon, and two managers were indicted on immigration charges in July 2008. A jury trial was set for June 15, 2009, but on June 10, Kahlon and one manager pleaded guilty. Kahlon was sentenced to two years’ probation and a $6,000 fine.

(d) Miyako Sushi and Panda China Buffets - ICE raided these restaurants in Ocean City, Maryland in June 2007, on evidence that illegal workers were hired as below-minimum-wage employees (paid in cash) in the restaurants and were provided living accommodations in condominiums owned by the restaurant owners, Bo Hao Zhu and Siu Ping Cheng. The owners pleaded guilty to immigration-law violations and were sentenced on September 12, 2008, to 18 months’ probation. Their partnership was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine.

(e) Rosenbaum-Cunningham International, Inc. (”RCI”) - On February 22, 2007, ICE raided 63 locations in 17 states of a national janitorial service that provided cleaning crews for restaurants. Almost all RCI janitorial employees were illegal immigrants who had no documentation whatever, and they were paid in cash. The owners, Richard M. Rosenbaum, Edward Scott Cunningham, and Christina A. Flocken were charged not only with immigration-law violations, but also with defrauding the United States of more than $18 million in federal employment taxes. On March 4, 2008, Rosenbaum was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, Cunningham to 51 months, and Flocken to 30 months.

The cases described above are typical. No case following an ICE raid has even come remotely close to the draconian threats and punishments imposed on Rubashkin.

Again, I am not questioning Rubashkin’s guilt. I am arguing that the prosecutors embarked on a tortuous path to rack up tens of charges arising from the same events, violated their agreement and now are seeking a sentence — jail for the rest of his life — that is far beyond the bounds of propriety and morality.

[Bodleian_Girl]

"Free, free, Trump set Rubashkin free!" (With apologies to the Police.)