https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-commutes-prison-sentence-for-kosher-meatpacking-ceo-rubashkin/
Trump commutes sentence of kosher meatpacking CEO Rubashkin
White House cites letters of support from lawmakers and others saying 27-year jail term handed down for bank fraud excessive
By TOI STAFF and JTA
21 December 2017, 1:00 am 7
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Defense attorney Montgomery Brown, right, and Sholom Rubashkin talk during the trial of Rubashkin, on state child labor charges on May 14, 2010, at the Black Hawk County Courthouse in Waterloo, Iowa. (Andrea Melendez/AP, Pool)
Defense attorney Montgomery Brown, right, and Sholom Rubashkin talk during the trial of Rubashkin, on state child labor charges on May 14, 2010, at the Black Hawk County Courthouse in Waterloo, Iowa. (Andrea Melendez/AP, Pool)
US President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of former kosher meat executive Sholom Rubashkin Wednesday, citing concerns about the Iowa slaughterhouse boss’s 27-year prison term.
Rubashkin, who was manager at the Agriprocessors meat plant in Postville, Iowa, was convicted in 2009 of financial fraud for submitting fake invoices to the plant’s bank that made the company’s finances appear healthier than they were so that it could borrow more. His prosecution came after federal authorities raided the plant and arrested 389 illegal immigrants in 2008.
“Mr. Rubashkin has now served more than 8 years of that sentence, which many have called excessive in light of its disparity with sentences imposed for similar crimes,” read a statement from the White House Wednesday.
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The statement said Trump was not issuing a pardon, meaning Rubashkin, a member of the ultra-Orthodox Chabad Lubavitch movement, will still be under parole and will need to make good on a restitution judgement.