Who Is Sholom Rubashkin? Trump Commutes Sentence Of Rabbi Jailed For Fraud

President Donald Trump on Wednesday commuted the sentence of former kosher meat executive Sholom Rubashkin, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison for bank fraud and money laundering.

The White House in a press release stated the action was “encouraged by bipartisan leaders from across the political spectrum, from Nancy Pelosi to Orrin Hatch.” It added the decision was not a presidential pardon and did not annul Rubashkin’s conviction.

Rubashkin, who was a 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 which made the company’s finances appear better off than they were so that it could borrow more money.

Federal authorities raided the Postville plant and arrested 389 illegal immigrants in 2008. Following the raid, Agriprocessors filed for bankruptcy and Rubashkin was then arrested in 2008 and accused by the federal government of swindling a bank that had given the company a loan of $35 million.

He was found guilty of 86 counts of bank fraud in 2009 and sentenced to 27 years in prison, according to the Times of Israel. Soon after his arrest, a campaign for his release was started by Orthodox Jewish groups and eventually led to support from others including more than 100 former judges, attorneys general and prominent politicians.

Among those who signed include John Ashcroft, Michael Mukasey, Edwin Meese III and Ramsey Clark, who served as attorneys general under former Presidents George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Lyndon Johnson, respectively. More than 80 former federal judges also lent their support to a request to Supreme Court in 2012 to hear an appeal of the Rubashkin case. The effort was, however, unsuccessful.

The 57-year-old father of 10, who was a Brooklyn-born rabbi, served more than eight years of his sentence and the commuting would enable a term of supervised release and a substantial restitution obligation, the White House said.

“The President’s review of Mr. Rubashkin’s case and commutation decision were based on expressions of support from Members of Congress and a broad cross-section of the legal community. A bipartisan group of more than 100 former high-ranking and distinguished Department of Justice (DOJ) officials, prosecutors, judges, and legal scholars have expressed concerns about the evidentiary proceedings in Mr. Rubashkin’s case and the severity of his sentence. Additionally, more than 30 current Members of Congress have written letters expressing support for review of Mr. Rubashkin’s case,” the release further stated.

Rubashkin’s attorney Guy Cook praised the decision, saying his client "has finally received justice".

"The sentence previously imposed was unfair, unjust and essential a life sentence,” he told news organizations. “President Trump has done what is right and just. The unrelenting efforts on Rubashkin’s behalf have finally paid off.”

Many Jewish organizations in the United States also expressed their happiness at Rubashkin’s release.

One of them, Agudath Israel of America, said in a statement to the Jewish publication, the Yeshiva World: Through today’s action, President Trump has shown that he too understood that something went terribly wrong in the prosecution and sentencing of Sholom Rubashkin – and, further, that he would not allow this blot on our criminal justice system to stand uncorrected. The president deserves to be congratulated and thanked – not only by Mr. Rubashkin’s family and friends, but by all who care about fairness and justice.

The Coalition for Jewish Values, a rabbinic public policy organization in the U.S., said they too welcomed the news.

"This was an extremely welcome decision from the Trump Administration. There was widespread, bipartisan sentiment that the prosecution was vindictive and the sentence disproportionate. His family has longed for this day for eight long years,” Rabbi Pesach Lerner, president of the organization, said in a statement.