Moshe Rubashkin
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Moshe Rubashkin (born 1958) the head of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council. He was elected to a three-year term in 2005 to serve as the head of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, a public organisation that among other activities receives $2 million per annum in state funding.[1]
The three year term ended in January 2008 and elections are due. But Rubashkin was able to put an hold on new elections and still running the CHJCC.
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[edit] Montex Mills
Rubashkin was the owner of Montex Mills, a textile mill in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It ceased operations in 2000. According to court papers Rubashkin was involved in an offense in connection with his operation of Montex Mills. Pennsylvania law requires companies to secure worker's compensation insurance for their employees. Nevertheless, when an employee of Montex became injured and attempted to recover disability payments, it became apparent that Rubashkin, in his capacity as president of Montex, had failed to secure the required insurance. On May 4, 2001, Rubashkin was placed in an ARD program for a period of 18 months. It was during this probationary period that Rubashkin - in an attempt to liquidate some of the failing plants assets, wrote bad checks to himself from the company, defrauding the Banks of over $300,000.[2]
[edit] Bank fraud
A government investigation found that between March 25, 1999 and March 30, 1999, Rubashkin attempted to deposit three checks payable to Montex, all drawn from the account of an entity named First Choice Associates, into Montex's First Union accounts. In the aggregate, the three checks totaled approximately $325,000. Rubashkin withdrew or used most of the funds which he attempted to deposit. Shortly thereafter, First Union learned that there were insufficient funds in the account from which the deposited checks were drawn. Rubashkin pleaded guilty to one count of Bank Fraud under US CODE 18 § 1344, "execution of a scheme to defraud a financial institution".[3], on July 31, 2002, for passing bad checks to prop up his failing Montex Mills textile business.[4] He was sentenced to 15 months in prison and a further five years on probation. He was also given a fine of $233,000.[5][6] He appealed the length of the sentence, but this was rejected.[6] He served his time at Fort Dix Federal Prison in New Jersey.[7]
[edit] Montex Mills fire
The mill had been closed for more than 4 years and Rubashkin had defaulted on his city tax payments. The city had obtained an order for the property to be sold to raise public funds. The mill burnt down following a series of fires attributed to arson[8] that began on April 19, 2005. The original fire burnt for over 24 hours. The fire took place three days before the building was to be sold at a sheriff's sale because of more than $100,000 in delinquent taxes. The mill had not been functioning for a number of years before the blaze.[9]
The Environmental Protection Agency was forced to get a court order to enter the site - which posed a serious public safety risk - as the owners were uncontactable. The site contained numerous major fire hazards including explosive aluminium powder and acids.[9]
In November 2005 the local government had obtained a court order to repossess the building due to non-payment of back-taxes when the building burnt down. Subsequently the majority of the ruins were transferred from Skyline Industries to Southside Development, both companies are believed to be controlled by the Rubashkin family, according to local officials.[10]
[edit] Cherry Hill Textiles
In 1995, Rubashkin along with his father Aaron Rubashkin, he was found guilty of fraudulently withholding Union remittances from organized labor groupings that were active at the Cherry Hill Textiles Mill in Brooklyn, that was under their ownership. The National Labor Relations Board found them guilty on a number of charges and ordered them to pay all the back-dated dues.[11]
[edit] September 2007 arrests
In November 2007 Rubashkin and his son Rabbi Sholom Rubashkin were arrested and indicted on charges of illegal storage of hazardous waste without a permit and one count of making a materially false statement. According to the US Department of Justice, "the allegations in the indictment stem from defendants’ ownership and operation of a textile dyeing, bleaching and weaving business, Montex Textiles, formerly located in Allentown, Pennsylvania.[12]
The indictment alleges that when the business ceased operations in 2002, numerous containers of hazardous waste were stored at the site without the necessary permits. After local authorities responded to two fires that occurred at the site, the United States Environmental Protection Agency initiated a major clean-up of the property in October 2005, including disposal of numerous containers of hazardous waste and hazardous substances located thereon. "The defendants were arrested and charged with violations related to alleged involvement in the abandonment of hazardous waste at the Montex Textile facility,” said Susan Helbert, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Philadelphia Area Office for the USEPA’s Criminal Investigation Division.[12]
[edit] Family
He is the son of Agriprocessors founder Aaron Rubashkin, father of its current CEO Sholom Rubashkin, and brother-in-law of Chabad rabbi and republican political fundraiser Milton Balkany.
[edit] Citations
- ^ Felon picked as leader, Glenn Thrush, New York Newsday, March 10, 2005
- ^ United States of America v. Moshe Rubashkin, Appellant. No. 02-4180. United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
- ^ Cornell Law School, legal Information
- ^ Felon picked as leader, Glenn Thrush, New York Newsday, March 10, 2005
- ^ United States of America vs. Moshe Rubashkin, Criminal action 02-333-01
- ^ a b United States of America v. Moshe Rubashkin, Appellant. No. 02-4180. United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
- ^ Felon picked as leader, Glenn Thrush, New York Newsday, March 10, 2005
- ^ Blaze at Montex Textiles in Allentown ruled arson, Angela Pomponio, Morning Call (Allentown, PA), May 5, 2005
- ^ a b EPA fears that hazardous chemicals pose imminent risk, Eliot Grossman, Allentown Morning Call, October 21, 2005
- ^ Allentown officials prepare to seize and sell the Montex Mills, Allentown Morning Call, November 13, 2005
- ^ Cherry Hill Textiles Inc and United Production Workers Union, Local 17-18, Case 29-CA-17848, Decisions of the National Labor Relations Board, No. 40
- ^ a b U.S. Department of Justice News Release, September 12, 2007
