Guilty verdict in Agriprocessors case

SIOUX FALLS, S.D., Nov. 13 (UPI) -- A jury found a former Agriprocessors Inc. executive guilty on 86 felony fraud counts related to sales records at the meat company's plant in Postville, Iowa.

The Des Moines (Iowa) Register reported Friday Sholom Rubashkin, a former Agriprocessor vice president, was convicted in U.S. District Court Thursday on various charges, including bank fraud, wire fraud and mail fraud.

Rubashkin was convicted of defrauding his company's lender in St. Louis by falsifying his business's sales records to borrow more from a $35 million credit line.

Rubashkin, 50, was also found guilty Thursday of not paying off livestock providers during a mandated 24-hour window despite an order to do so.

Rubashkin is the sixth Agriprocessors executive convicted of federal charges. Two Agriprocessors line managers, along with two financial officers and a human resources director, all testified against Rubashkin as part of plea deals.

The Agriprocessors slaughterhouse in Postville was raided by federal agents in May 2008 on suspicion the plant was employing undocumented immigrants.

The Register said Rubashkin's federal trial on 72 immigration-related federal charges is scheduled to take place in Sioux Falls, S.D., in December.