Federal grand jury returns indictment against largest slaughterhouse in US for conspiracy, bank fraud.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFAgriProcessor 224.88(photo credit: Courtesy )
A federal grand jury in Iowa returned a 12-count indictment against kosher slaughterhouse Agriprocessors and some of its employees Friday, on charges ranging from conspiracy and harboring illegal immigrants to bank fraud.
The Agriprocessors plant in Postville, the largest kosher slaughterhouse in the US, was the site of one of the nation's largest immigration raids in May.
The indictment included three new defendants who haven't previously faced federal charges in connection with the plant. The indictment was issued Thursday and unsealed on Friday.
The indictment listed charges including conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants for profit, harboring and aiding and abetting undocumented immigrants for profit, conspiracy to commit document fraud, aiding and abetting document fraud, aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft and bank fraud.
Federal immigration agents arrested 389 workers after the May raid.
Court records show that Beebe, the plant's operations manager, was arrested without incident at noon Friday at the Agriprocessors plant. The US attorney's office said the public's assistance is being sought in the apprehension of Amara and Levi, who were both poultry managers.
Calls to attorneys for Rubashkin and Freund were not immediately returned. Beebe was being arraigned Friday afternoon, and no attorney had yet been appointed.
The charges are the latest blow for a company that was once the largest US provider of kosher meat.
The Postville plant sought bankruptcy protection earlier this month and has been forced to halt production, blaming the immigration raid for financial difficulties.
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