Cedar Rapids, IA – The lawyer for Sholom Rubhashkin, convicted felon and former CEO of Agriprocessors, argued in court on Monday that U.S. attorneys involved in the case meddled in the sale of the company after it went into bankruptcy, causing it to sell for millions below market value.
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WCFCourier.com (http://bit.ly/GzO5Du) is reporting that Rubsahkin’s attorney claimed the reduced sale of the company was subsequently used against Rubashkin at sentencing when prosecutors added up the total amount of monetary damage caused by Rubashkin during the course of his scheme.
Rubashkin, 53, is currently appealing a 27 year sentence on bank fraud and money laundering charges.
According to Attorney Paul H. Rosenberg, who is handling Rubashkin’s appeal, the $8.5M price tag that Agriprocessors sold for was well below fair market value.
“Industry standard methods of estimating liquidation value of a company show that the reasonably expected liquidation valued of Agriprocessors, absent government interference with the bankruptcy sale, would have been tens of millions of dollars higher,” Rosenberg said.
Rosenberg charged that reps from the U.S. Attorney’s Office informed the bankruptcy trustee that Agriprocessors was essentially worthless, and that any assets would be seized due to Rubashkin’s upcoming trial.
Rosenberg also alleged that the feds scared off potential bidders by telling them members of Rubashkin’s family were barred from staying on in a transitional management capacity after the sale of the company.
“The No-Rubashkin edict, coupled with the threat of forfeiture, deterred interested buyers, including one who had initially planned to offer $40 million, from ultimately bidding,” Rosenberg said.
Rosenberg charged the feds with failing to disclose to the defense that U.S. Attorneys were intervening in the sale.
Rosenberg is seeking a new sentencing hearing.
עס שטינקט פון קאפ ביז פוס
Why is vos iz neias biased against Rubashkin?
“Glen Silver” who rewrote the article from its source, keeps calling Rubashkin “convicted felon”. The original article calls him “former vice president”. Is there a problem that anybody can see?
american justice is blind, totally blind! to put away a good man for so many years, the judges make me sick.
Enough already this man did his time. He should be released at once.
Some murderers and rapists have received less prison time…… This is a travesty of justice.
the “convicted felon” language also caught my eye. Of course the government killed the value of the company – of course the fact that they shut down the operations caused the company to be late in paying their bills and suppliers. I dont think either of those two facts are at issue. This case should have been tried in a normal jurisdiction. Linda reade is a quack.
Zoglobeck was te company that originally bi $4 million for the plant. When they inspected the plant, they found deplorable conditions. The workers were not motivated, the owned equipment was in a sad state of disrepair and the good equipment was leased and the the leaseholders wanted their machines back. The plant was not worth even $10 million.
All they have to do is ask Heshy Friedman to testify and he will tell of the horrible things found there, and he will tell you that he overpaid for the plant. But that never stopped Rubashkin lawyers from going to court, did it?
Couldn’t get worse…I’m sure that seeing his Kiddush Hashem will cut his sentence by many years. He is a true Tzaddik and Maamin. Justice will salvage the misery he is incurring.
The US Cholera Attorney’s office are no friends of Jews!
How do I get my name and phone number removed from the endless calls to give money for his defense? Please help me.