I am Sholom Rubashkin. For more than eight years, I wasÂ inmate 10755-029 at Otisville FCI in New York. People there called me “The Rabbi.”

If you search my name, you will see that I was accused of terrible things.

NBC Story

Cedar Valley Business Story

Sioux City Journal Story

CNN Story

The government would have you believe I am a monster. I was convicted of bank fraud. The jury found that I never intended to enrich myself. But there were people â€“ a federal judge and a lawyer, in particular â€“ who appear to have profited from my case. Here is my story.

It began when a group of Orthodox Jews moved from Brooklyn to the heartland.

It was my father’s idea. A Russian immigrant, he owned a butcher shop in Brooklyn. Faced with constant shortages of kosher meat, he decided to buy a slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa.

My father is a businessman, but I am a rabbi, by training and by preference.Â We â€“ my wife Leah, our children and myself â€“ were living in Atlanta, where I was teaching at a synogogue, when my father asked me to help run the plant.

Leah Rubashkin's Testimony

The business thrived, thank G-d. In fact, it grew to be the largest kosher meat plant in the country.

Sentencing Transcript

Our success created jobs, and the jobs brought new people to Postville. Once overwhelmingly white and Christian, it became home to hundreds of Orthodox Jews and Latinos. Not everyone was happy with the changes.

Petition & Jury Demand

Then on May, 12, 2008, hundreds of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents descended on the plant, seeking undocumented workers.

NY Times story

It was among the biggest workplace raids in U.S. history. Nearly 400 people were arrested, most of them Mexicans and Guatemalans who spoke no English.

Washington Post Story

They were rounded up and shackled, then taken in buses to a cattle fairground 75 miles away. An observer called the sight “the saddest procession I have ever witnessed.” In a process that was later found to be highly problematic, nearly all pleaded guilty to charges of identity theft and social security fraud. They were sentenced to five months in federal prison and then deported.

Interpreter's Account

Seattle University Law Review: The Postville Raid

Statement by American Immigration Lawyers Association

NY Times Story

The search warrant also laid out suspicions that we – a group of rabbis – were making methamphetamines and pipe bombs at the plant. Of course they found no such things.Â Another document stated concerns that we were employing Eastern European Hasidic Jews who were “smuggled” from New York.

Search Warrant

"Smuggled" Jews email

The plant ran on three shifts, but workers from just one were arrested. The others were afraid to come to work, or even to send their children to school. Many sought refuge at St. Bridget’s Church, where they slept on pews or on the floor. People from the town brought food and blankets.

NY Times Story

We tried to get other workers, but could not fill our orders. We had to file for bankruptcy protection.

As for me, seven times I was indicted. I was arrested twice. Prosecutors tried to deny me bail, saying they were worried I would flee to Israel because of my religion.Â I was born and raised in the U.S. I have never lived in Israel.

Chief Justice Linda R. Reade presided over my case.Â A jury found me guilty of financial fraud.

Before I was sentenced, my lawyers learned that Judge Reade had helped plan the raid on the plant, meeting with prosecutors over a seven-month period.

Motion to Recuse

The company’s assets were valued at $68 million, in large part because of my father’s involvement. His trademarks and expertise were the lifeblood of the business. I was accused of owing the bank $27 million.Â The law dictated that my sentence would be calculated using the bank’s losses. We had a buyer offering $40 million if my father remained involved, but the prosecutors made it clear that if any member of my family remained connected to the company, they would start forfeiture proceedings. The “no Rubashkin” rule diminished the value of the company and increased my sentence.

Merits Brief

Paula Roby, a lawyer representing the bankruptcy trustee, testified that the “no Rubashkin” rule didn’t exist.

Merits Brief

Judge Reade, who knew Roby from activities outside the courtroom, ruled that her testimony was credible. We later discovered evidence – handwritten notes from a meeting Roby attended – that the “no Rubashkin” rule was real.

Merits Brief

Roby and her firm billed the bankruptcy trust more than $4 million. I later learned that Roby was accused in a New Jersey divorce case of having an affair with one of the bankruptcy trustees involved in my case.

Bankruptcy fees

NJ Family Court File

Though I had no previous criminal record, and was never accused of violent crimes, Judge Reade sentenced me to 27 years – two more than prosecutors sought. I was 51 years old. It was effectively a life sentence.

Reply Brief

Compare my punishment to that of a few men whose names, and whose crimes, may be familiar to you.

Many powerful people decried my sentence, among them six former U.S. Attorneys General, former Department of Justice officials, and some of the country’s most respected legal scholars. We asked for a new trial before a new judge, but Judge Reade refused to step aside.

Letter from 107 DOJ Officials

Letter from Six Former U.S.A.G.'s

Then we learned this: At the time of the raid, Judge Reade and her husband owned stock in two of the largest private prison companies in the U.S. Five days before the raid, when she knew that hundreds of people would soon be taken into custody, they bought more stock in those companies. Mother Jones

Financial Disclosure 2008

Estimated number of defendants that Judge Linda Reade sentenced to prison while holding stock in GEO Corp and Correction Corporations of America

Number of federal judges in the Eighth Circuit, which encompasses six states, who owned stock in for profit prisons between 2002 and 2011

Many prominent legal scholars and journalists, as well as my lawyers, have requested information on Judge Reade’s involvement in the raid. Their requests have been denied.

Eight years I spent in prison. My wife and 10 children stood by me, as did many friends.Â I will always be grateful for their support.

I never despaired. I made the most of my time, studying the Torah and teaching others. And then, on Dec. 20, 2017 â€“ the last night of Hanukkah â€“ my sentence was commuted.

Denied Ruling

My prayers were answered; I am now a free man.Â But what of the others who passed through the same courtroom that I did who remain in prison, whose sentences may have been calcuated with more in mind than the crimes they commited?Â Maybe the story of what happened to me will serve a greater purpose.

Hokel Biday Shamayim!Â Â

Executive Grant of Clemency

Days Served

Days Commuted

James Reynolds

â€œThe prosecutorsâ€™ actions causing financial loss in the Agriprocessors, Inc. sale, led to an increase of 22 levels in the sentencing guidelines. This increased Mr. Rubashkinâ€™s sentence by approximately 24 years (!). If the Trustee had received the expected $40 million or more on the sale, First Bank could have been made whole. In that case, Sentencing Guidelines would have been in the range of 30 to 37 months. Instead, Mr. Rubashkin was sentenced to 27 years in prison, practically a life sentence for a man of 50, and he has already served over 80 monthsâ€¦
â€¦These types of actions not only violate our sacred covenant to serve justice in a fair and impartial manner, they may actually be unlawful in and of themselvesâ€¦â€

Former U.S. Attorney Northern District of Iowa, in a letter to Kevin Techau, current U.S. Attorney Northern District of Iowa

Larry Thompson

â€œThis case represents one of the most troubling miscarriages of justice I have ever witnessed in my entire careerâ€¦â€

Former US Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, former Deputy Attorney General under President George W. Bush and current law at Emory University, in a an April 2016 email to Kevin Techau

Louis D. Freeh

â€œAs former Department of Justice officials, judges, law professors and officers of the court, we are asking you to correct a severe miscarriage of justice by the Department which we respect and still proudly represent as alumni.
â€¦As you are the leader of the United States Attorneyâ€™s Office where this serious breach of ethics and fairness occurred, we believe that you have both a personal and professional obligation to rectify itâ€¦.â€

Former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and former United States District Court judge for the Southern District of New York, in a 2016 email to Kevin Techau

Philip B. Heymann

â€œExperienced former prosecutors and career DOJ officials all view this case as a stain on an institution created to uphold the law.â€

Former Deputy Attorney General under President Bill Clinton and Assistant Attorney General under President Jimmy Carter. He is currently the James Barr Ames Professor of Law Emeritus at the Harvard University Law School.

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