Postville, IA – The judge who presided over Sholom Rubashkin’s fraud trial did nothing improper when she met with federal agents prior to the massive 2008 immigration raid at Agriprocessors, Inc., prosecutors argued Tuesday.
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U.S. District Judge Linda Reade was only told about a planned raid that would involve hundreds of illegal immigrant arrests, Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Deegan Jr. wrote in court papers.
The chief federal judge for Iowa’s northern district was not privy to where the raid would take place, who would be targeted, or other details before the raid was underway, Deegan said.
The federal court filing came in response to defense claims that Reade did not disclose all of her conversations before the May 2008 raid. Rubashkin’s lawyers have asked for a new trial on grounds Reade took an improper role in helping plan the raid.
Reade has said she had limited “logistical cooperation” with law enforcement in advance, to ensure that the detained immigrants were given attorneys and interpreters. The massive raid also required her to move the immigrant hearings to the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo because of the number of arrests.
“In order to plan for hundreds of criminal prosecutions, the Court needed to be contacted at the earliest opportunity to determine whether the Court could handle so many prosecutions at once and, if so, when,” Deegan Jr. wrote. “The Court needed several months to plan for its role in the operation. There is nothing about the timing of the notification to suggest anything nefarious.”
Defense lawyers say Reade participated in a series of meetings with immigration agents and prosecutors that went beyond that limited role.
Reade has said she does not comment on pending cases.
Deegan said statements attributed to Reade about her “support” for the operation were taken out of context. Even if she had known that Agriprocessors was the target, he said, the allegations still would not lead a reasonable person to question her impartiality. He noted that the prosecutions immediately after the raid focused on the plant workers and not the management.
Rubashkin was sentenced to 27 years in prison in June for his leadership in the massive financial fraud scheme at Agriprocessors Inc. A jury convicted Rubashkin of 86 fraud-related charges in November.
Nearly 400 illegal immigrants were arrested at the Postville plant during the raid. The plant later filed for bankruptcy, and has since emerged under new ownership as Agri Star.
what happens now? are the lawyers returning all the mpnies which were collected in brokklyn and afterw
rds in lakewood?
She did Not Know Agri was the target, what a joke
I hope these lawyers know what there doing. According to the docs received after the rubashkin team sued with a freedom of information act statue,it seemed they had a good case …I feel/fear/know, a massive govermentanti-semitec cover up.And one goverment agency covering up for the other.
Will the defense be able to prove otherwise?
Deegan – I have a bridge to sell you ,
Do you think we are that stupid – when the truth will come out – will you be prosecuted for false filing in a court case ?
She knows shes wrong. Shes afraid to get into trouble.
“for his leadership in the massive financial fraud scheme at Agriprocessors Inc”
Once again utter lies and exaggeration.
What he did; exaggerate sources of potential income, (which was done only after being forced into bankruptcy by the government) is not called ‘orchestrating’ financial fraud scheme!!
He deserves a fine if anything, and at worse he could get 2-3 years for that so called vicious crime he did if a prosecutor was that bad…
But THIS is completely mind boggling!
SHAME ON USA JUSTICE. SHAME ON “SO CALLED JUDGE” READE
MOSHIACH NOW!!! AND ONE BIG YESHUA FOR REB SHOLOM MORDECHAI.
THIS IS THE TRUTH. IF SOMEONE DOESN’T LIKE IT….. SIMPLY TOO BAD.
Wha does this have to do with the issue. The issue isn’t if she was wrong while having the meetings, the issue is that the meetings may have later ruined her impartiality (later when she did know who it was refering to), and at least she should have notified the legal teams.
You also have to keep in mind, that this is more severe than most cases, as those meetings were all in regards to crimes that weren’t part of this case, and the defendant never had a chance to defend himself before the judge about those charges, so the judge remains with her tainted feelings).
Ya I like that Prosecutors comment “she didn’t know and even if she did” I mean I thought this guy was smart is he trying to laugh at us
Anonymous Says:
She did Not Know Agri was the target, what a joke.
why would she know it was Agri. Agri only become a household name after the raid. She wouldn’t know v from a whole in the wall
This story proves how desparate the lawyers for SMR have become. Instead of seeking to have his sentenced reduced by a few years so he might, by’h, be free to see his children again during his lifetime, they seek to make the judge and the prosecutors the criminals which has clearly backfired on them.
Anonymous Says:
I hope these lawyers know what there doing. According to the docs received after the rubashkin team sued with a freedom of information act statue,it seemed they had a good case …I feel/fear/know, a massive govermentanti-semitec cover up.And one goverment agency covering up for the other.
wrong if you would have read it, would would have know that none of it was really new information that they did not have before, no cover up. And some point they made was not substantiated with the evidence they prsented.
Look he got caught get over it
Still 27 years is outragous was not
Says:
“for his leadership in the massive financial fraud scheme at Agriprocessors Inc”
Once again utter lies and exaggeration.
What he did; exaggerate sources of potential income, (which was done only after being forced into bankruptcy by the government) is not called ‘orchestrating’ financial fraud scheme!!
how many times does it take to say a lie that it becomes the truth. The false billing where done many tears before the raid. They where bill made to people and they admitted they never bought meat from SMR.
I see evidence means nothing to you
b”H I am not “rich” but I gave 1100 and then another 1000 for the cause. I feel bad that I haven’t given more… IY”H soon.
No of course noone mentioned who the target was. So many details, time, place, vacation schedule…but the target: a BIG SECRET!!! HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHA
As the wise President Bush once said
“fool me once….shame on you….fool me, you can’t fool me again”
SO let me get this straight: Deegan the prosecutor, is trying to convince Judge Reade, that Judge Reade is innocent and knew nothing about it. Is judge reade still presiding over this motion? A chutzpah! She should be disbarred, that sneaky witch
I would like to see what the GOV does to the Iowa egg company owner who the allegation against him seem even worse then Agri refusing bail highly doubt
the difference between a neurotic and a psychotic is that a psychotic thinks two plus two equals five, and the neurotic knows two plus two equals four, but can’t seem to accept it. The frum community seems to consist almost entirely of neurotics.
Billing a clothing store in Boro park for meat deliveries is not the act of an honest man. Wire fraud and bank fraud, plus perjury, are not the acts of an honest man, Writing off house renovation, purchase of jewelry and silverware with company funds (all admitted by defense) are not the acts of an honest man. EVEN if you are all correct and he “intended” to pay it all back, these are NOT the acts of an honest man.
But go ahead, blame this all on the judge, the jury, the prosecutors, the government and anti-semitism.
What a joke!
B”H
I am not someone with the chutzpah to say what Hashem does and why… but…. the idea that thousands of people have gotten sick from IOWA eggs… after what they did to Rubashkin…. maybe divine retribution?
Interesting observation, prosecuter defending judge. Even if she did know. Hello, didn’t she comment “whatever I can do to help”. Did anybody really think that the prosecutor or the judge is going to come out and admit that it was known in advance? C’mon, who are we fooling. Unfortunately the judicial system stinks, especially with jurists like Judge Reade, is she suppose to come out and admit that she had numerous conversations with the prosecution? Why was it so difficult to get all the information under the freedom of information act if there was nothing to hide? Why even after releasing information and documentation was so much eradicated and doctored or missing? What a bunch of baloney. This judicial system is a farce.
Read it and then make your comments.
It’s not looking too good for Rubashkin right now.
This is the normal arguments that the prosecution was expected to make in their opposition papers on this appeal.
The appeal is before the Appellate Court, not Reade.
There are NO SURPRISES here…. this is the obvious counterargument!!
No need to pass judgment about the value of the appeal BEFORE it’s decided!
PLEASE let’s stop with the finger-pointing. It’s ELUL! We have an achrayus to daven for Rubashkin this Rosh Hashanah.
It sure took the prosecutors a long time to come up with that.
As has been pointed out, this is all meaningless if Judge Reade is the one judging it. What incredible hubris she’s got — weighing a case against herself!
What can smell the fear in these prosecutors and Judge Reade. They have reason to be fearful, because they will all go down in shame when their entire case is thrown out.
It is like saying the Atlanta GA based soft drink company or the person that lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. All the papers stated the IA Kosher Meat Packing Plant. It also Listed the PETA allegations which referenced Rubashkin. So maybe the prosecution did not explicitly label their target. But anyone with an IQ higher than 90 would be able to put two plus two together (in the honorable language of commentor 23), and figure who the target is.
In what ever information is not redacted, it is clear that there was a disproportionate amount of communication between prosecution and judge. The documents also leave one to contemplate: what was redacted?
“In a power-point presentation describing the
planned raid that bears a March 12, 2008, date—which may well have been displayed during the
meeting of March 17—ICE identified Mr. Rubashkin as the “Vice-President of the company,””
This prosecutor’s response is an insult to our intelligence. She didnmt know the Target ?! They told her they might bring in a few HUNDRED illegals. Did anyone read the articles about the area ? Agri was, by far, the biggest employer in that region! She knew, that liar. Where else could the raid have been, Bob’s Corner Deli ??
Part # 1
It is shameful, that readers, in these pages, are just dimwits, let just say a few words about Lewin’s motion. I said before, Lewin’s press release and face time with the orthodox community doesn’t equate with the actual motion, in the motion itself he never accuses Judge Reade with either corruption or perversion of the law. As matter of fact he never ever made an affirmative accusation, that he knew for a fact, the Judge Reade was privy to information prior to the arrest, actually after any close reading of the motion and accompanying affidavits, you will not be able to cite even one place, where Lewin discovered the bloody gun, there is no gun period. The fact is that the government made mince meat of Lewin’s pleadings. Lewin himself is a fraudster.
Poster # 3, wake up every point Lewin made is describe in detail, in the government reply, and it bluntly shows that Lewin don’t have the facts on his side. Regardless what you or other say.
Poster # 5 Please don’t be an idiot, *when the truth will come out*, the truth is out, do you understand that Kennedy was killed by a lone gunman. Your fantasies will not change facts.
Poster # 7 “for his leadership in the massive financial fraud scheme at Agriprocessors Inc” Yes, it was a massive, going on for 10 years. One thing you’re, it came to light after the raid.
Part # 2
Poster # 8 “The issue isn’t if she was wrong while having the meetings, the issue is that the meetings may have later ruined her impartiality” Judge Reade didn’t have any meeting pertaining to Agriprocessors, please get it into your tick skull.
Poster # 19. “SO let me get this straight: Deegan the prosecutor, is trying to convince Judge Reade, that Judge Reade is innocent and knew nothing about it. Is judge {R}eade still presiding over this motion? A chutzpah! She should be disbarred, that sneaky witch” this poster is the epitome of stupidity, he still doesn’t know that this appeal is in the Appellate Court not Circuit Court.
Poster # 25 one-, “Interesting observation, prosecut{o}r {are} defending judge{s}” the shame is that you are making comments, and it shows, that you don’t know the basics, no Judge would ever reply to a motion in the appellate court, only the prosecutor. Get the facts straight before you make yourself look like a fool. Two-, “Why even after releasing information and documentation was so much eradicated” You see nothing was *eradicated* names were *redacted* meaning name of 3rd party people were edited, and if you only spend a few minute reading the accompanied letters, you will see that they follow the law as cited in each batch, but I guess you were busy learning, or surfing the net. End
reply to #24 :
Obviously you ARE someone with the chutzpah to do that, since you DID do exactly that.
How stupid a comment is yours? You claim the Judge and jury were crooked so half-a billion eggs were turned loose on a public that had nothing to do with this entire affair? And you believe this because of the connection of both happenning in Iowa?
I read that there were a few murders these past months in Iowa, much like every other state.. But these murders are obviously the fault of those who did somthing to Rubashkin, since they happenned in Iowa.
It’s divine retribution!
Are you by any chance a conspiracy theorist as well?
24
Yesterday at 11:02 PM Anonymous Says:B”H I am not someone with the chutzpah to say what Hashem does and why… but…. the idea that thousands of people have gotten sick from IOWA eggs… after what they did to Rubashkin…. maybe divine retribution?
reply to #28 :
Why do you claim I have an achrayis to daven for Rubashkin any more than any other criminal in jail, or any other person with tzoris?
Did you get a special message from Gd that told you about such an “achrayis” for one individual you have a personal opinion about?
Did you hear anything about Gilad Shalit or Jonathan Pollard? Or just Rubashkin and Madoff?
And I’ll point out that if “finger-pointing” is inappropriate for Elul, it’s as inappropriate for any other month.
Ya she didn’t
I remember my little girl gave me this excuse when she was 3 year old
You think the supreme court will buy this?
Nice try rebetxin reade
How much did you give to Masbia?
How much did you give to Ezras Torah?
Look around you, don’t you see the children with holes in their shoes?
Don’t you see the women buying only lukshin and stew meat.
No they don’t own house in CH or BP.
They need Tzeddakah too.
They think that people are as stupid as she is to belive “she didn’t know”!
There are enough money and resourses to hire a good invistigator to dig under this shameful Reade, to found out all her wrongdoings, and let her face her fair juditial system!
#32 sez: “The issue is not if he was honest. The issue is whether or not SMR had a fair trial, which he did not.”
So you essentially agree with #23 – he’s guilty, but we can always claim he did not get a fair trial. Let’s say the same thing about Madoff and hundreds of other Yidden sitting in the pen. Let’s collect money for all of them – and daven and say tehillim. (Personally I prefer to spend my money on Cuban cigars and daven mostly for my children’s welfare – I’m selfish.)
To #1 : Lawyers never return money; that’s the first thing they learn in law school.
When are all of the cultists for SMR, just go home accdept his sentence, and teach your children that crime does not pay.
A crook that steals from Shimon, in order to give charity to Ruevan, is still a crook, and Ruevan knowing the money is stolen now becomes the accomplish to Shimon.
Teach your children proper midos, etics, good parenting, to be honest, TRUE TORAH VALUES, to be good husbands, to get a good education, to make an honest living, and thenteach them the following….
Pirkey Avos….The CROWN OF A GOOD NAME . Look it up and finish the rest.
34 GRAND CHUTZPAH TO CALL LEWIN A FRAUDSTER. I hope they investigate you to see how squeaky clean you are
By now, the posters changed their arguments from ridicules to the conspiracy theorist. It is ugly out there; they see black choppers all over the place. Mind you Judge Reade and AUSA Richard L Murphy decided in cahoots, that Murphy will perjure himself by signing this affidavit, so that Rubashkin would sit in jail. Furthermore, this conspiracy reaches its way into US Attorneys, ICE, and the Circuit Court, offices. Mind you there are maybe ten, fifty or even one hundred people who should know about this conspiracy, but they are now and *forever* part of this conspiracy. All for what? To put away one Chasidic fraudster, who himself during the hearing on the sentencing, admitted in front of the Judge, and for all the world to see, that he conducted his business in an unethical way, he is the one who said “I made mistakes”. I finally figured out how conspiracies come to pass, the genesis of this conspiracy, is manifesting in front of us, and we have a front seat to this stupid gestation and finally the baby was born. You need a fact, i.e. fraud; you need a system that will do its job, i.e. putting away the fraudster. Finally you need a community of idiots that will try to justify the behavior of one of own, at any cost, and if all rational arguments fail, then turn to the conspiracy theory.
TO 34 & 35:
You are a fool to the say the least, any fair minded person sees the heavy misjudgment carried out against him. If you fail to see that YOUR the one with a big problem.
You sit there “knocking down posters” You write utter garbage, your ‘facts’ are false if not twisted.
If you want to get the full story (something which you obviously lack) go and buy the two Zman Issues that address the Rubashkin ordeal from A- Z
Then if you’re honest with yourself, you’ll come to the obvious conclusion of him being mistreated and dishonestly prosecuted, the same way ALL those ppl.. singers, lawyers, us attorney generals…who must out of their mind, right?
No! they are normal ppl who see the truth.
Enough Said.
The readers / commenters ignorance of the Judicial System is appalling.
No Judge Reade is NOT reviewing the case. The appeal goes to a HIGHER court.
OF COURSE the prosecution is defending themselves. That is how an appeal works. Lewin files an appeal and the government has a certain amount of time to reply.
OF COURSE it takes a few weeks. They need to read the brief by Lewin and they respond point by point.
Take a few minutes and read it. You will see how Lewin and the Rubashkin “team” have been playing with you. This appeal HAS (almost) ZERO chance of winning a reversal.
Rubaskin needs a NEW set of competent lawyers, otherwise he is destined to stay in prison.
Poster # 45
The reason why I believe Lewin is a fraudster, because one he knows that there is almost zero chances to succeed on the merits, so to raise funds Lewin purposely and pompously decided to push the Anti-Smite card, just in front of the orthodox community, why in the notion he never ever accused the Judge of being an Anti-Semite but only at Jewish gatherings he did say that Judge Reade is an Anti-Smite, and on the August 8, 2010 on a conference call with Jewish Orthodox leadership he equated Judge Reade with Haman the Biblical Arch Enemy Of Jews. Was all the hyperbole because he was trying to raise funds for Rubashkin defense fund, in my protected view yes, thereby enriching himself. That is fraud, no matter how you slice it.
Poster # 40
Sorry, but you don’t know what you’re talking about, the prosecution never filled for an extension, the law gives them 21 days to reply to the motion. Secondly you wrote “This is what they came up with even after the extension? Seems pretty flimsy.” Did you really read the motion and all the accompanying affidavit and exhibits? And you call that flimsy? Your next point the accountant example, and the argument you are trying to frame, just doesn’t make any sense, you are definitely not a great Talmudic scholar, otherwise you would understand how bad it currently looks for SMR.
Poster # 47;
It is self evident, that you are not a fair mined impartial reader of the case and I am sure that you would gladly admit to this. That said I am curious why you didn’t attack any specifics I wrote, it is easy to say that it is nonsense, but to be fair, explain to us feeble minds, what we are missing. Maybe we could learn a thing or two from you the great one. One point I don’t need any singers to tell me what is right or wrong in our judicial system maybe you do. US Attorney Generals never criticized the trial, they criticized the original prosecution demand for a life sentence, and eventually they saw the shining light and changed to a 25 years demand. But the real question is do you have the wherewithal to be honest with yourself, I doubt that.
Still, even if it wasn’t just agri, even if she was involved with other cases of Illegals, why should she be allowed to judge on the case?
I honestly would expect better from these prosecutors.
She said she “would support the operation in any way possible” how much out of context can that be?
And they completely ignored the fact that she did not want the RAID to take place while she was on vacation. What kind of judge is that?
Stephanie Rose, Make up your mind. When are you saying the truth and when are you lying.
Yesterday she declares
“The hundreds of felony prosecutions commenced on May 12, 2008, and completed in
Waterloo in the ensuing days, focused on Agriprocessors’ workers – not its
management. The investigation of defendant and his wrongdoing was in its infancy.
Defendant was not charged with any criminal charges until October 30, 2008; after
other Agriprocessors mangers and office personnel had been prosecuted and
cooperated.”
even adding a footnote
“The Court will recall only 17 a single undocumented alien arrested on May 12, 2008,
was called to testify at defendant’s trial”
And continuing as follows
“Even assuming defendant’s allegations gave cause to question Chief Judge Reade’s
presiding over the cases of the undocumented workers, the concerns do not logically
transfer to defendant’s trial. Defendant was tried and convicted, over a year later,
based upon a broader financial investigation. The evidence gathered on May 12, 2008,
was only a discrete part of the mountains of evidence used to convict defendant.”
But going back to the sentencing date we heard a complete different song, talking only about Rubashkin nothing about the prosecution of the illegal’s, in the press relies she describes as follows.
“This prosecution and lengthy sentence resulted from an extensive two-year ICE worksite enforcement operation and follow-up investigation,” said Claude Arnold, Special Agent in Charge for the ICE Office of Investigations overseeing Iowa. “This case serves as a warning to employers that, if you build your business on the backs of an illegal workforce, ICE and other federal resources are there to make you pay the price.”
And she added
“The investigation began in October 2007 and continued after the execution of search warrants at Agriprocessors on May 12, 2008.”
Again talking only about Rubashkin nothing about the prosecution of the illegal’s.
If this is not enough, in her letter to the editor published that day she took extra pains to describe how important the raid was for the rubashkin prosecution in direct opposite of her statement yesterday she wrote
“The enforcement action was critical to the successful prosecution of Rubashkin and other management employees at Agriprocessors. These
In evaluating prosecutor Deegan’s statements, you need to keep in mind that he has total immunity for any false statements he makes. There is no perjury penalty for prosecutors and judges.
So he can lie through his teeth, while laughing at the whole world–“Catch me, if you can!”