Sentence commuted, not pardoned.
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.
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.
The White House noted that Rubashkin, 57, is a father of 10, and included a list of legislators and others who had supported commuting his sentence, including Representative Nancy Pelosi and Senator Orrin Hatch.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-commutes-prison-sentence-for-kosher-meatpacking-ceo-rubashkin/