Troubled Iowa Meatpacker Defaulted on Loan, Bank Says

[Omaha Steve]

Source: New York Times

By JULIA PRESTON


A federal judge has appointed a temporary receiver for a kosher meatpacking company in Iowa after a bank said that the company had defaulted on a $35 million loan and that it had written $1.4 million in bad checks.

The loan foreclosure against the company, Agriprocessors Inc., was the latest in a cascade of troubles that have come after nearly 400 illegal immigrant workers were arrested in a raid in May at its plant in Postville, Iowa. On Thursday, Sholom Rubashkin, the former chief executive, was arrested in Iowa on federal charges of conspiring to harbor illegal immigrants.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Cedar Rapids, First Bank Business Capital of St. Louis claimed that Agriprocessors had failed to maintain enough cash in designated bank accounts to stay current on the revolving loan it took out in 1999. The lawsuit was first reported Friday on the Web site of The Forward, a Jewish newspaper.

The suit also claims that Agriprocessors violated the loan terms by diverting nearly $1.4 million from First Bank accounts to another bank to issue payroll checks on Oct. 24. First Bank learned that those checks were returned for insufficient funds, the lawsuit says.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/us/02meat.html

[47of74]

1. The hits keep on coming for Agriprocessors

[Hawkeye-X]

2. I hope Agriprocessors goes out of business

I HATE Aaron's and Rubaskin's, even if they're the most common kosher food out there.

I want REAL good chicken, meat, whatever.

Aaron's ain't it.

Hawkeye-X

[tomreedtoon]

3. I always thought kosher MEANT good.

I thought that kosher foods had to be supervised by rabbis during critical parts of processing. That is why it costs more (and why, as I understand, there are kosher counterfeiting rings in New York that a police squad is dedicated to catching).

Of course, there's no reason that this would mean the food necessarily tastes good, but you'd think that would be a result of the careful treatment.

[ikojo]

8. All "kosher" means is that the meat is of a kosher animal

(cloven hooved, chews its cud such as a cow) AND was slaughtered by a slaughterer trained in Jewish ritual slaughtering. That is all it means, to the best of my knowledge. Cows raised to be sold as kosher are not quarantined from non kosher cows. They receive the same feed and other stuff that the non kosher cows receive.

There is a push among the more liberal Jewish sects such as Reform and Conservative Jews, toward what is called eco-kosher. What that means is that one should look at the big picture not just the small details. Was the animal raised humanely (i.e. not in a pen or a factory farm), is it free range (free of harsh chemicals), and were the workers paid a living wage and treated with respect. One Jewish camp network, Ramah, refused to buy Rubashkin foods this summer.

The Rubashkin's need to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. They should not be allowed out on bail because they could always flee to Israel if their passports are not confiscated. It shames me as a Jew to see people like this in the news. It smears those who do try to live an observant lifestyle and it plays into the worst stereotypes of Jews. At a time such as this Jews don't need this.

[Lost River Ledger]

4. WARNING

Before this starts going down an unsupportable path, we should focus on the questionable or illegal business practices not canards leading with or incorporating “kosher” & “Rabbi.” Which may lead some to incorrectly assume that persons on this sight blame the situation on a single religion rather than individuals who fail to adhere to the best in moral constructs of that religion they profess. No single group, race, creed, color or DU-er is in a position to cast the first stone.


:think:

[ohio2007]

5. Does that mean 'con'gress is without sin in all this ?

Guess this means their bank didn't get any of the $700 billion bailout package

No single group, race, creed, color or DU-er is in a position to cast the first stone.

maybe the Somali pirates will go above board and loan them some 'booty',pillage and/or plunder to meet payroll.

[Lost River Ledger]

6. Not sure you read or understood the entire post

[47of74]

7. Staffing firm pulled out

The staffing firm that supplied 450 employees to the company has pulled out. Jacobson Staffing has suspended it's relationship with Agriprocessors and told the people they had working there not to report to their jobs. Guess Jacobson doesn't want to go down with the sinking ship.