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United States Attorneys OfficeNorthern District of Iowa

United States Attorney Stephanie M. Rose

PRESS RELEASEFor further information contact:Bob Teig

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (319) 363-6333Date: June 22, 2010 Cedar Rapids, Iowa

SHOLOM RUBASHKIN SENTENCED TO 27 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON

The former CEO of Agriprocessors, Inc. was sentenced today to 27 years infederal prison.

Sholom Rubashkin, age 50, from Postville, Iowa, received the prison term after

November 12, 2009, jury verdicts finding him guilty of 86 counts of financial fraud andrelated offenses.

Evidence at trial showed Rubashkin inflated Agriprocessors sales in order tofraudulently obtain millions of dollars in loans that were not backed by any collateral.Rubashkin also diverted millions of dollars in customer payments that were supposed togo to Agriprocessors primary lender. He committed money laundering by running tensof millions of dollars through bank accounts at a Postville grocery store and a religiousschool. The trial evidence showed Rubashkin was personally involved in harboringhundreds of undocumented worker at Agriprocessors and illegally delaying payments to

Agriprocessors cattle suppliers. He paid for the purchase of fabricated IDs for

undocumented workers and personally inspected those documents. Evidence showedRubashkins fraud resulted in over $26 million in actual loss to Agriprocessors lenders.

Over a two-year time period when money was being fraudulently obtained from alender, Rubashkin funneled about $1.5 million from Agriprocessors accounts to hispersonal bank accounts. The money was used, in part, to pay approximately $300,000on his credit card bills, approximately $200,000 for a portion of the remodeling of hisresidence, approximately $76,000 for his personal state and federal income tax,approximately $41,000 for his mortgage payments on his personal residence,approximately $25,000 for jewelry, approximately $20,000 for sterling silver, $1,245 permonth for life insurance, and $365 per month for his car payment.

Sholom Rubashkin expended enormous efforts to hide his many crimes from thepublic and law enforcement. On top of that, there have been orchestrated efforts tospread false information intended to elicit sympathy for him. It is a tragedy that manypeople were misled by this misinformation calculated to distract the public from thetruth. The truth came out at trial and sentencing, said United States AttorneyStephanie M. Rose. No one won anything today as the damage caused by Mr.Rubashkin cannot be fully tallied. However, today the house of cards he constructedfinally was brought down. When something is built on lies, it should be no surprisewhen it collapses under the weight of those lies.

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Rubashkin was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court ChiefJudge Linda R. Reade. His sentence was based, in part, on his leadership role in thecrimes and his efforts to obstruct justice by testifying falsely at his trial. Rubashkin wassentenced to 324 months imprisonment. Special assessments of $8,600 wereimposed, and he was ordered to make $26,852,152.51 in restitution. He must alsoserve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole inthe federal system.

This prosecution and lengthy sentence resulted from an extensive two-year ICEworksite enforcement operation and follow-up investigation, said Claude Arnold,Special Agent in Charge for the ICE Office of Investigations overseeing Iowa. Thiscase serves as a warning to employers that, if you build your business on the backs ofan illegal workforce, ICE and other federal resources are there to make you pay theprice.

The United States Attorneys Office works to ensure victims are made whole asquickly as possible and is seeking the public's assistance in locating or identifyingRubashkin's assets. If anyone has information regarding Rubashkin's assets with asignificant value, they are urged to call 319-731-4080.

Rubashkin is being held in the United States Marshals custody until he can betransported to a federal prison.

The investigation began in October 2007 and continued after the execution ofsearch warrants at Agriprocessors on May 12, 2008.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Peter Deegan,C.J. Williams, and Matthew Cole, and the investigation has been led by U.S.Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Priorassistance was provided by the United States Marshals Service; United States Postal

Inspections Service; Iowa Department of Public Safety; Iowa Department ofTransportation; Federal Protective Service; Internal Revenue Service CriminalInvestigations; United States Department of Labor; Public Health Service; United StatesDepartment of Agriculture; United States Environmental Protection Agency; IowaDepartment of Natural Resources; Drug Enforcement Administration; Waterloo PoliceDepartment; and Postville Police Department.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.The case file number is CR 08-1324 LRR.

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