Judge denies Rubashkin path to shorten sentence

A federal judge has discounted new claims from former slaughterhouse executive Sholom Rubashkin that his 27-year prison sentence for bank fraud and money laundering was the result of misconduct by Iowa prosecutors following a raid at his family's Iowa plant.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge Linda Reade on Thursday denied a petition from defense attorneys seeking a new sentencing hearing and other relief that could have freed Rubashkin earlier than his expected 2033 release date. Reade accused the former executive's attorneys of "embellishing" their claims to win a new hearing.

"(Rubashkin's) allegations regarding the government’s conduct amount to no more than the use of accusations, especially unjust ones, to damage the reputation of an opponent," she wrote. "(Rubashkin's) mudslinging is wholly inappropriate."

Rubashkin, 57, oversaw operations at Agriprocessors, a large kosher meatpacking plant owned by his father in the northern Iowa town of Postville. The plant was raided by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in May 2008, leading to the arrests of nearly 400 Mexican and Guatemalan immigrants who were living and working in the country without authorization.

RELATED:

New Rubashkin claims garner Who's Who list of supporters

Rubashkin railroaded? Not so, prosecutors say

The raid sparked a chain of events, including Agriprocessors declaring bankruptcy, that led investigators to suspicious invoices and other sales records that Rubashkin faked to make the company appear on better financial footing. Prosecutors accused Rubashkin of using the fake paperwork to continue borrowing on a $35 million line of credit, ultimately resulting in a $27 million loss for a St. Louis-based bank when Agriprocessors went defunct.

But attorneys representing Rubashkin claimed in a May court petition that the bank's loss was caused by prosecutors who wrongfully meddled in the bankruptcy sale, scaring off potential buyers willing to pay more than the eventual $8.5 million sale price. The filings pointed to new evidence, including recently discovered handwritten notes, that defense lawyers claim prove prosecutors misled Reade about their interference in the sale at the time of the sentencing.

Prosecutors denied any wrongdoing, and Reade wrote in her ruling that the sentence was based on more than just the amount Rubashkin cost the bank. "The government did not conceal any information that materially affected the outcome of the sentencing hearing and it did not offer misleading testimony," she wrote.

"(Rubashkin) orchestrated a massive criminal scheme that impacted a very large community, that is, defrauded financial institutions for approximately 10 years, harbored an illegal workforce and laundered millions of dollars in an effort to provide kosher products across the nation," she wrote. "The court recognized that "(Rubashkin) repeatedly tried to obstruct justice when his criminal scheme came to light, never acknowledged what the law requires and never wholeheartedly accepted responsibility."

The defense attorneys' claims sparked calls for former President Barack Obama to use his clemency power to free Rubashkin or shorten his sentence, most prominently in the opinion pages of the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. But Obama left office last week without granting Rubashkin a pardon or commuting his sentence.

Four former attorneys general and two former FBI directors signed a letter in April urging Kevin Techau, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa, to take action that would free Rubashkin.

Guy Cook, a defense attorney who's represented Rubashkin, said the former executive "respectfully disagrees" with Reade's ruling and will seek to appeal. He pointed to the host of former law enforcement officials who signed the April letter, including former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who oversaw the department at the time of the raid.

“They are familiar with the facts," Cook said. "They are familiar with the briefs and they have called on the Department of Justice to correct the injustice in this case.”

Supporters of Rubashkin have long claimed that the 27-year sentence handed down by Reade was excessive. Rubashkin's prison sentence was nearly three years longer than the original prison sentence given to Jeffrey Skilling, the former Enron president convicted in a fraud case that cost shareholders $11 billion.

"It's essentially a life sentence for a 51-year-old man, and it's not in the public interest," Cook told journalists in 2010.

But detractors lamented that Rubashkin was never tried in federal court on a host of immigration charges, which would have given former workers an opportunity to testify about alleged abuses and exploitation at the plant. Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorneys Office dismissed those charges shortly after Rubashkin's convictions for bank fraud and money laundering.

A jury acquitted Rubashkin in state court of 67 misdemeanor child labor law violations in 2010 after his defense attorney argued the executive should not be held liable for employing teens who "tricked" the company using fake documents. But among the allegations made public in that case were claims that certain Agriprocessors supervisors harassed and had sexual intercourse with female workers in a storage room at the plant.

Rubashkin has enjoyed support from his community of Chabad-Lubavitch Jews, who practice a strict version of Orthodox Judaism. He is currently serving his sentence at a prison in New York state.