U.S. District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade has ordered that the Iowa meatpacking manager found guilty on 86 counts of fraud and money laundering will remain behind bars.

Sholom M. Rubashkin, who served as the day-to-day manager at Agriprocessors in Postville and is the son of company founder A. Aaron Rubashkin, will remain in the custody of U.S. Marshals until he is sentenced on the earlier conviction. It is unknown if Rubashkin, who recently had 72 immigration-related offenses against him dismissed, will remain in a county facility or will be moved to a federal prison. An exact sentencing date has not yet been established, and, since the process requires extensive reports for judicial review, the date could be several weeks from now.

In the bail hearing on Wednesday, the Rubashkin defense team pointed to the man’s strong community and family ties in Postville as well as his record of good behavior while on release pending trial. Prosecutors, on the other hand, told the court that the fact that Rubashkin was facing a sentence of possibly several hundred years in prison that the situation had changed significantly.

In addition, the prosecution called Mike Fischels, a special agent who has long been assigned to the Agriprocessors case, to testify about an overseas telephone conversation he had with a company supervisor still wanted by the government.

Fischels testified that he spoke with co-defendant Hosam Amara on the telephone about Amara’s flight from the U.S. to Israel. Amara indicated to Fischels that [Rubashkin] told him to leave the U.S. and return to Israel in order to remove himself from the situation facing Agriprocessors.

The government also presented a copy of a check and bank documents that suggest Rubashkin provided financial assistance to Amara around the time that he fled the U.S.

The court finds that the government’s evidence for detention is compelling.
Defendant’s actions prior to and during the pendency of the instant action, when coupled with the powerful incentive to flee due to the jury’s return of the Verdicts, demonstrates that Defendant poses a flight risk. The court notes that, in the Detention Order, it previously found that Defendant posed a flight risk.

The court acknowledges the overwhelming support that Defendant’s community has provided during the trial and the instant proceeding. The court also recognizes that Defendant took great pains to comply with the terms of his pretrial release. The court agrees that Defendant has shown he is committed to his family and to his community. Nevertheless, the court finds that this evidence does not rise to the “clear and convincing” level necessary to show that he is “not likely to flee [. . .] if released under [§] 3142(b) or(c).” 18 U.S.C. § 3143(a). Accordingly, the court shall grant the Motion.

Rubashkin’s defense team has pledged to appeal the fraud and money laundering convictions. It is unknown at this time, however, if they will also appeal this detention order.

Sholom Rubashkin, who was recently found guilty of 86 charges related to money laundering and fraud in connection with the raid, was set to go back on trial Dec. 2 in Sioux Falls, S.D. on the immigration offenses.

The order for dismissal by Reade follows a request by federal prosecutors filed early Thursday morning.

According to the government’s calculation of the sentencing guidelines, due in large part to the amount of loss associated with defendant’s fraud and false statement convictions, any convictions with regard to Counts 1 through 72 would be entirely eclipsed by defendant’s recommended guideline sentence on the counts for which he has already been convicted. This is not to minimize the importance of those counts, but at least for the purposes of the advisory sentencing guideline range, any convictions on Counts 1 through 72 would have no impact upon defendant’s sentence. However, any evidence of immigration violations would be relevant conduct that the Court could consider at sentencing even without a second trial.

In the government’s estimation, now that defendant has been convicted on the most serious offenses charged in the pending indictment (in terms of potential penalties), and given that a jury has determined defendant committed crimes by making false statements about the harboring of undocumented aliens at Agriprocessors, Inc., and his knowledge of undocumented workers at Agriprocessors, Inc., dismissal without prejudice of Counts 1 through 72 and the forfeiture allegation is the most appropriate and efficient manner in which to proceed in this case. Dismissal will avoid an extended and expensive trial, conserve limited judicial and prosecutorial resources, and lessen the inconvenience to witnesses. The public interest has been substantially served because of the convictions and jury findings noted above. The government asks that such dismissal be without prejudice so criminal charges and the forfeiture allegation could be reinitiated based upon a change in circumstances or a reevaluation of present
circumstances.

According to documents filed with the court, Rubashkin’s legal team had no objection to dismissal of the charges.

Prosecutors also noted in their motion to dismiss that the current financial condition of Agriprocessors, Inc. as a company “and the fact that it is an empty shell” were justifiable reasons for not pursuing possible forfeiture charges.

Rubashkin, 50, and other senior members of the Agriprocessors management and executive team still face a state trail, currently scheduled to begin next spring, on alleged violation of child labor laws.

Currently, Rubashkin is being held by federal authorities, pending a decision in a bail hearing held Wednesday.

Grassley, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee that unanimously approved Rose’s nomination for a full vote, said he would guess that her Senate confirmation is not in jeopardy.

“I’ve had a chance to interview her, and she’s been an assistant U.S. Attorney for a long period of time,” Grassley said during a conference call. “She’s absolutely qualified to do the job she’s been appointed to.”

Rose’s handling of any one particular case, according to Grassley, should not be used as a litmus test for her entire career as a federal prosecutor. He also note how unusual it is for someone within the office ranks to be recommended and nominate for such a post.

“Very seldom does somebody at that professional career track get selected by a U.S. senator,” he said. “They usually pick someone who has been not only a good lawyer, but also very active in the political process… I think it’s quite a feather in Sen. Harkin’s hat that he’d be willing to help someone who’s been a professional all these years to advance to be a U.S. Attorney.”

The New York Times reported Sunday that Rose’s confirmation has been the subject of growing controversy:

Eleventh-hour criticism is arising over President Obama’s nomination for United States attorney in northern Iowa of a prosecutor who had a leading role in the criminal cases against hundreds of illegal immigrants arrested in a May 2008 raid at a meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa.

[...]

Ms. Rose, a senior assistant United States attorney in the office she has been chosen to run, has also garnered support from criminal defense lawyers in Iowa, including at least 11 lawyers who defended immigrants from Postville. In those proceedings, “she exhibited a level of competence and ability that would be hard to overstate,” the lawyers wrote in a letter in April.

But some defense and immigration lawyers have said that felony identity-theft charges against the immigrants were excessively harsh, that immigration lawyers were not given adequate access to their clients, and that improper contact took place between prosecutors and one judge. They contend that possible civil rights and ethical violations by prosecutors should have been investigated.

The Wall Street Journal’s legal blog is also watching the story.

Will these concerns be enough to prevent Rose’s confirmation? Probably not. Though the national attention the story is receiving may be new, the complaints from her critics are not. If they were going to prevent Rose from getting the job for which she’s been nominated, it likely would have happened by now.

Sholom M. Rubashkin

Rubashkin, who is the 50-year-old son of Agriprocessors founder and president A. Aaron Rubashkin, was convicted of all possible money laundering and mail, wire and bank fraud charges. He was also convicted on 15 out of 20 counts of failing to provide timely pay to livestock auctions and providers.

The verdict followed nearly a month of testimony and evidence in which the government sought to paint Rubashkin as one, if not the, mastermind in a plot to defraud creditors. The defense team, in contrast, chose to portray Rubashkin as inexperienced, naive and unprepared to serve as day-to-day manager for such a large undertaking as the kosher meatpacking plant in Postville.

Following the lengthy reading of the verdict, Rubashkin was taken into federal custody, and his defense attorney, Guy Cook, pledged to appeal. Rubashkin is expected to return to eastern Iowa next week for sentencing and a possible bail hearing pending appeal. He faces a maximum sentence of more than 1,000 years in prison for the guilty verdicts.

An early December trial has been slated for an additional 72 federal immigration-related charges against Rubashkin, and he also faces a trial in state court this spring for possible child labor law violations.

All of the charges stem back to a massive May 12, 2008 immigration raid at the Postville facility. More than 300 immigrant workers detained by federal authorities pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to identity theft within days of their apprehension, and the bulk have been deported after serving brief federal prison sentences. Some immigrant workers, however, continue to live in and around Postville and are expected to be called by the prosecution in the upcoming trial.

The road between the actual raid and the federal trial in Sioux Falls, S.D., was long and has often wound its way through traditionally uncomfortable conversations for Americans regarding immigration, civil rights, religious expression and the composition and worth of charity.

The Rubashkin family, all ultra-orthodox Jews affiliated with the Hasidic Chabad Lubavitch movement, have at times suggested that the charges against them stem not from any alleged illegal activity, but from anti-Semitism. Throughout the investigation, and especially following the initial arrest and jailing of Sholom Rubashkin, many of the Jewish religious faithful, either through their own conscience or through the prodding and help of Chabad, have defended the Rubashkins from wrongdoing and stood as character witnesses for the family’s contributions.

Both inside and outside of Jewish circles, however, the Rubashkins have drawn criticism, many believing that generosity was born of ill-gotten-gains, harvested on the back of an underpaid and often mistreated immigrant workforce. Media reports, which prompted the move of the trials from Iowa to South Dakota, have given supposed victims of child labor and sexual harassment at the Postville plant a voice.

The company known as Agriprocessors fell into bankruptcy last year, and has re-emerged as AgriStar under the new ownership of SHF Industries, a venture of Canadian businessman Hershey Friedman. Heshy Rubaskin, brother to Sholom and son of Aaron, continues to work at the reborn business.

At least six former members of plant management or the human resources department have pleaded guilty in the wake of the 2008 immigration raid:

April 13, 2009 — Elizabeth Billmeyer, 48 and the former human resources manager, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to harbor undocumented aliens for profit and one count of knowingly accepting false resident alien cards.

March 19, 2009 — Penny Ann Hanson, 41 and a former human resources employee, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to make false statements on immigration documents.

Dec. 10, 2008 — Karina Pilar Freund, 29 and a former human resources employee, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of aiding and abetting a pattern or practice of hiring undocumented aliens.

Oct. 29, 2008 — Laura Althouse, 38 and a former human resources employee, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to harbor undocumented aliens and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Aug. 27, 2008 — Martin De La Rosa-Loera, 43 and a former plant supervisor, pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting the harboring of undocumented aliens.

Aug. 20, 2008 — Juan Carlos Guerrero-Espinoza, 35 and a former plant supervisor, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to hire illegal aliens and one count of aiding and abetting the hiring of illegal aliens.

Former plant operations manager Brent Beebe, 51, will soon be tried on immigration-related charges in federal court. Two additional plant managers — Hosam Amara and Zeev Levi — also face criminal charges, but have yet to be apprehended by authorities.

According to The Des Moines Register:

Chinese communists swept to power in the last century without mentioning plans to nationalize businesses or institute forced abortions, Republican gubernatorial candidate Christian Fong told supporters of the Iowa Minuteman Civil Defense Corps on Saturday.

“They came in promising hope and change,” Fong said. “Sound familiar?”

This line of attack against the president is nothing new for some elements of the Republican base, but so far Fong has managed to strike a more moderate tone in his campaign, especially when discussing immigration.

In an interview with the Carroll Daily Times Herald earlier this month, Fong warned his party to be careful to “not sound so angry” when discussing immigration. And later in his speech to the Minutemen, Fong, the child of an immigrant from China and a woman from Nebraska, said the party’s message must be tempered with an acceptance of those who come into the country legally.

When he first entered the campaign in July, some of his positions were seen as potentially controversial to to Iowa’s conservative Republican base. He was even attacked by some in the social conservative movement for not openly condemning homosexuality as evil.

Insinuating that Obama will “nationalize businesses or institute forced abortions” appears to be Fong’s attempt to reach out to his party’s base and quiet down any criticism that still lingers about his political beliefs.

As U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley prepared to leave the Delhi farm home of Larry and Nancy Stover, Nancy (right) served him coffee for the road. Although the gesture was one of pure hospitality on the part of the Stovers, it pretty much guarantees a return visit by the Congressman, who will need to return the family's travel mug.

The meeting between Braley and about 30 dairy families, which took place in the Delhi farm home of Larry and Nancy Stover, was intended to be an opportunity for the Congressman to hear directly from those who are being impacted by federal policy.

“Rural America hasn’t shrunk much in size, but has shrunk a lot in influence,” Braley said to open to the discussion. “Iowa is going to lose another congressional seat in 2012. That means that we are going to lose 20 percent of our clout in Congress, and that is not an insignificant thing.”

Ben Blanchard, who owns a large dairy (by Iowa standards) with his mother and two brothers in Clinton County, presented Braley with financial statistics based on his own operation, which weren’t too different than the stories told by dairy farmers throughout the nation. In 2007, their farm was doing well financially, but began to see revenues deteriorate in 2008. By 2009, the farm was receiving some of the lowest prices for its milk that it had ever experienced.

“This is for our farm of 700 cows for a nine-month period [in each of those three years], and you can see the average monthly expenses and then I provided our average monthly break-even price,” Blanchard said. “So, when you compare that to the price that we are paid, you see if we made above or below the break-even point. In 2009, you can see that even though our break-even point was better than it was in 2008, the milk was significantly lower, which resulted in a $4.42 per 100-weight loss. That amounts to a monthly loss of $64,800 for our dairy farm. Looking at the nine-month period for this year-to-date, we’ve lost $582,000.”

Although many of Iowa’s dairy operations are smaller and operated by family only, the Blanchard farm, and other larger operations, has a significant outlay in employee costs.

“We pay in payroll $350,000 over nine months,” Blanchard said. “There are a lot of people in our community Charlotte and in Clinton County as a whole who depend on our dairy farm. … So, when we are hurting, the community is hurting.”

As Braley noted, the available workforce pool in rural Iowa is quite different today than it has been previously.

“The way I feel, and I know that others may not feel the same way, but there needs to be legislation to allow them to come over and not just on work permit or whatever for six months,” said Blanchard, who noted that his family employs more than 20 immigrant workers.

Legislation that would allow immigrants to come into the U.S. and work for extended periods of time needs to be developed, according to the farmers in attendance, because short-term work permits do not provide for consistency in training and maintaining a workforce. Otherwise the available workforce for the areas in which farms exist has aged, and the few younger workers have learned that they can make better paychecks for less manual labor by working in retail establishment such as fast food.

“This put the complicated issue of immigration right out on the table,” Braley said. “There simply are no easy solutions… it isn’t just in dairy, it is in a host of different businesses. And, unfortunately, because immigration is such a controversial topic, we don’t seem to be able to have a meaningful, rational discussion on how we solve these problems.”

Norm Voelker, a farmer from Ryan, said there also needs to be a federal change in how the E-Verify system punishes employers that are attempting to do the right thing by utilizing the system to verify employment status of people they hire.

“Make an incentive for the people who need immigrant workers — and we definitely need immigrant workers. I’ve changed my thoughts on that during the past five years,” he said.  “[Those who hire immigrant workers] need a way that they can go online and easily verify whether this person actually should be here or not.”

In addition to workforce demands, an immediate concern for dairy farmers is farm-retail price differences. In 2007, according to Blanchard’s figures, consumers were paying roughly $3.50 for a gallon of milk at the store while farmers were receiving $1.50 per gallon for their raw milk. In 2008, those figures held steady with the consumer price increasing slightly to $3.80 per gallon and raw milk prices also increasing slightly to $1.66 per gallon. In 2009, however, the prices went lopsided with farmers being paid 89 cents per gallon of raw milk while consumers paid $3.15 per gallon.

“We pride ourselves — we have high production levels — we feel we are a very productive dairy farm. But then, as you write these numbers out, it’s almost heart-breaking,” Blanchard said.

Holsteins on Larry and Nancy Stover's farm could be seen through the kitchen window as dairy farmers gathered inside to discuss low milk prices. The Stovers are the third generation of their family to dairy farm on this piece of land near Delhi.

Larry Stover, who hosted the meeting in his home, is a fourth generation dairyman who runs a much smaller operation than the Blanchard family. On a typical day, he milks 90 Holsteins on the same farm that his family has run for three of those four generations.

“I think probably every dairy farmer in the country has taken equity off the balance sheet in order to keep going, to pay the bills,” Stover said. “And, in some instances, they’ve had to borrow more money to pay the bills — probably in a lot of instances. Other than that, you just try to do the best you can. You don’t dare skimp on too many costs because your cows won’t be there when the price comes back.”

Dairy farmers have recently experienced small increases in their milk prices, although they continue to be paid well below production costs. An informal poll by The Iowa Independent of those attending the meeting with Braley showed an average payment of $11.16 per hundred weight. Most operations require at least $14 per hundred weight in order to break even.

Most farmers, as Stover explained, have borrowed excess money to continue their operations, with the hope that the small increases are an indication that prices will continue to rise. The reality is, however, that the markets are being propped by incentives through the U.S. Department of Agriculture that include large commodity buys and herd culling. As a result, banks that have offered additional loans to dairy farmers are beginning to fear for their investments. Some banks are requiring that dairy farmers, who often cut their corn for livestock food, harvest it by combine it instead so that the crop can more easily be sold if the loans go south.

“I would like to say that this is just supply — just an over-abundance of supply. But at the same time, you have to think that everybody has to feed their kids,” Blanchard said. “Dairy products are one of the most nutritious things that you can feed to your families. I understand that exports are down and that people are hurting all over the world. Between here and there, one thing that I feel is that somebody’s got to be making that money because people are still paying it. I don’t know if they have reasons behind it, but when a processor is making record profits and we’re hurting and struggling to get by every day, it makes you really think.”

More than anything else, the dairy farmers who have made it through this extremely rough patch want assurances that the market which governs their price will not continue to be as volatile.

“The price of milk is starting to come up a little bit and, on the futures, it looks somewhat promising compared to where we’ve been,” said Doug Fairbanks, who farms near Anamosa. “A lot of us are established dairy farmers, so we’ve lived off some of our equity, and we’ve burnt that equity this summer. Those resources are tapped. Our lines of credit are full. If this corrects itself for six months or a year and then it happens again… it will devastate the dairy industry. … Just because you are still in business doesn’t mean that you’ve come out of this OK.”

Braley said that he received a great deal of information that will help him as he advocates for rural America in Washington, D.C.

“I’m a firm believer in the safety-net approach to agricultural commodities,” Braley told The Iowa Independent after the meeting. “When the bottom drops out of the marketplace, there have to be protections in place to continue our safe food supply. … I think most of the people here are interested in an opportunity to continue to do what they love and know that the federal government is not going to promote policies that will drive them out of business. And, at that same time, to have a safety net in place if they are at risk of losing their entire operation.”

In addition, Braley said that it is time for the government to start breaking up monopolies in the dairy industry and provide stricter oversight to ensure that the market is not being manipulated.

“We have deregulated so much that we have abdicated our oversight responsibility in many of these federal agencies, and we need to restore the public confidence that somebody is keeping an eye on speculators whose profit motivation is bad overall for the American economy,” he said.

Rubashkin, the former day-to-day executive at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville, recently had his federal trial moved from Iowa to Sioux Falls, S.D. in an effort to mitigate jury tainting due to excessive media coverage. He faces a host of immigration-related and fraud charges that stem from a May 2008 immigration raid at the Agriprocessors plant. On Thursday, a half-page advertisement ran on page 5 of The Des Moines Register that was paid for by “Friends of Sholom Rubashkin” using a Brooklyn, N.Y., address. It was a move which caught the ire of federal prosecutors as well as the judge who agreed to move the trial from Iowa to South Dakota to mitigate pre-trial publicity.

A half-page ad that ran Thursday in The Des Moines Register, linked to members of the Rubashkin family, has not appeared in Sioux Falls media where the trial of Sholom Rubashkin is scheduled to begin this month.

Chief Judge Linda R. Reade, according to The Gazette, said that if such an advertisement ran in the similarly Gannett-owned Sioux Falls newspaper, that she was “going to hit the roof.”

Guy Cook, defense attorney for Rubashkin, told the court that he was not aware of the advertisement and that it didn’t stem from the council of rabbis who are providing defense funding for his client. The address used in the advertisement, however, is also used by Rite Surgical Supplies, a company that has ties to the Rubashkin family. Levi Balkany, a grandson of Agriprocessors founder A. Aaron Rubashkin and nephew of Sholom M. Rubashkin, listed himself as vice president of Rite Surgical Supplies on forms required by the Federal Elections Commission by those who make political contributions.

Levi Balkany is the son of one of Aaron Rubashkin’s daughters and Milton Balkany, a Rabbi who was charged in 2003 with misappropriation of nearly $1 million in federal grant money intended for disabled students at a Jewish school. After Milton Balkany apologized and made restitution, he did not face prosecution. Milton Balkany has also been referred to as the “Brooklyn bundler” for his ability to gather and bundle numerous campaign donations (many from Rubashkin family members) for primarily Republican candidates, in exchange for consideration of issues important for Orthodox Jewish institutions. Part of the federal deal for deferring prosecution on the grant money was that Balkany would be barred from lobbying the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, although federal prosecutors declined to elaborate on why this particular activity was of importance.

Levi Balkany is one of 16 individuals, members of the Chabad Jewish Community in Brooklyn, that were named in December 2008 to “The Committee of Concerned Anash for Pidyon Shevuyim,” a group organized to create a top-notch legal team for Sholom Rubashkin and to mount a donation and public relations campaign on his behalf.

In a press release the committee said that they want “the public to know they are the official group to assist and aid the Rubashkins, endorsed by the family” and that they have “years of experience in dealing with pidyon shevuyim (prisoner of war) cases.”

Although the committee’s efforts have been prominent in Jewish circles, the half-page ad in Iowa is one of the few times the group has sought to sway overall public sentiment regarding the case. Weekday reach of The Des Moines Register into the Sioux Falls area is roughly 3,500 households, according to a company spokesperson.

Judge Reade, citing media accounts that prohibited seating an impartial jury in the case, decided in August to move the upcoming trial from Iowa to South Dakota. At that time, the court warned prosecutors and defense attorneys about tainting the Sioux Falls media prior to the start of the trial, which is scheduled for Oct. 10.

Defense attorneys during a pretrial hearing in Cedar Rapids on Thursday argued that prosecutors had already dismissed the court’s warning by sending out press releases announcing the guilty plea of Mitchel Meltzer, a former chief financial officer at the plant, to numerous press outlets, including those in Sioux Falls. Despite the press releases not being targeted to that specific media market, Judge Reade nonetheless admonished the prosecuting team.

Reporters covering the case in Sioux Falls, according to Reade, will not be allowed any access to immediate story filing through blogs or social networking sites like twitter. Laptops and cellphones will be barred.

Democrats disagreed, arguing that it would create an additional barrier preventing the nation’s poorest citizens from accessing care.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) characterized the Grassley proposal as “a solution in search of a problem.” Similar requirements, he said, have kept citizens from getting Medicaid coverage for years, particularly on Indian reservations where the poverty is endemic and ID documents scarce. The fraud in Medicaid is not patient fraud, but provider fraud, added Bingaman, a former attorney general who claimed to have plenty of experience tackling the problem.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) echoed those concerns, wondering aloud how many kids have photo IDs? “This puts children at risk,” he concluded.

There is good reason for the Democrats’ concerns. A 2005 law created strict new proof-of citizenship requirements for Medicaid eligibility, forcing potential beneficiaries to produce original-copy citizenship and identification documents. Sponsors said the change was designed to protect taxpayers by preventing illegal aliens from accessing the federal-state program. But Medicaid directors nationwide have said the hurdles have kept many more citizens than illegals from receiving coverage.

The committee vote to kill the Grassley amendment was 1o to 13, strictly along party lines.

Mike Lillis covers Congress for the Washington Independent, a Center for Independent Media site.

A Moving Video of the Daughter of Sholom Rubashkin from Zalman Tevel on Vimeo.

The video, along with a link to a donation page run by the National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education, reminds members of the Jewish community that “Pidyon Shvuyim is one of the greatest mitzvos possible.” Pidyon Shvuyim is the doctrine that commands Jews to redeem captives, which, according to the Jewish law called the Mishneh Torah, “takes precedence over supporting the poor or clothing them.”  This belief is further explained in the Yoreh Dei’ah, Chapter 252, which states: “Ransoming Captives takes precedence over feeding and clothing the poor, and no mitzvah is as great as ransoming captives. Therefore, any money which is collected, even for a religious purpose, may be diverted to ransom captives even if it is raised for the purpose of building a synagogue…”

While non-Jewish readers may not understand the significance of “ransoming captives,” it has been a very real and unfortunate part of Jewish history. The first likely incident was highlighted in the Bible when Lot, nephew of Abraham, was taken captive during the battle between Mesopotamian and Canaanite kings. Enemies and rogues learned that taking Jews captive could be very lucrative since the community was mandated and bound by law to pay the ransom. Historically, then, Pidyon Shvuyim has been used to gather or collect funds for the release of prisoners of war or others being held hostage against their will.

According to information published by Shmarya Rosenberg at Failed Messiah, the pledge drive for the legal fund appears to be a continuance of a prayer vigil and other activities for the benefit of the Rubashkin family. Rosenberg notes that there is no way to designate specific purposes of Pidyon Shvuyim funds donated via the site, and that all donated funds will be placed in the Rubashkin legal defense fund.

“It has been a very challenging year for us,” Weiss notes in the video as photos of her father in custody are shown. She also notes that the situation has been an opportunity for the family to renew their faith.

“Now, a few days before Yom Kippur, I ask you to please open your hearts and help my father who never turned anyone down,” she says. “The lawyers estimate that from now until the end of trial it cost about $500,000.”

Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, begins at sundown on Sunday, Sept. 27, and ends at nightfall on Monday, Sept. 28. It is considered the holiest of holy days of the Jewish year.

Sholom Rubashkin served as the day-to-day manager at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville at the time of a massive immigration raid that resulted in 389 plant workers, most Guatemalan or Mexican, being detained by federal authorities. He was taken into custody by federal authorities in the fall of 2008, and is currently facing a litany of charges ranging from bank fraud to immigration-related offenses. Chief Judge Linda R. Reade ruled last month that due to negative media, Rubashkin could not receive a fair trial in Iowa and moved the proceedings to Sioux Falls, S.D. The trial is set to begin on Oct. 10.

Rubashkin and his legal team have launched a law suit against the federal government, citing that officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not provide a response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Rubashkin asked the government to provide any and all documentation in relation to the May 2008 raid in Postville, which led to the 163 charges he now faces.

Rubashkin and several other members of plant management, including his father, A. Aaron Rubashkin, who resides in Brooklyn, N.Y. and founded the company, also face several thousand state charges of alleged child-labor law violations.

The plant, which has emerged from bankruptcy proceedings, is now organized with a new name, Agri-Star, and is under new management. It continues to operate in Postville.