1. Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin was born on October 30,1959 and is an American businessman and convicted fraudster who was the CEO of Agriprocessors, a now-bankrupt kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa, formerly owned by his father, Aaron Rubashkin.
In November 2009, Rubashkin was convicted of 86 counts of financial fraud, including bank fraud, mail and wire fraud and money laundering.
Sholom Rubashkin served his sentence in Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville in Mount Hope, New York.
Sholom Rubashkin was the second-youngest son of Rivka and Aaron Rubashkin, a kosher butcher from Brooklyn, New York, born in Nevel, Russia.
In 1981, Sholom Rubashkin married Leah Goldman and spent a year learning in kollel.
Sholom Rubashkin then worked in his father's butcher shop, until he and his wife were sent to Atlanta, Georgia, as emissaries in the Chabad-Lubavitch outreach program.
In 1987, Aaron Rubashkin opened the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa, and put two of his sons in charge: Sholom, the second-youngest, as CEO; and Heshy, the youngest, as vice president of marketing and sales.
On October 30,2008, one day after the Iowa labor commissioner fined Agriprocessors $10 million for wage violations, Sholom Rubashkin was arrested on federal conspiracy charges of harboring undocumented immigrants and aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft.
On November 13,2008, Sholom Rubashkin was arrested again at his Postville home on federal charges of bank fraud.
Sholom Rubashkin was denied release on bail on November 20,2008, after Magistrate Judge Jon Scoles determined that he posed a flight risk.
Sholom Rubashkin was released on $500,000 bond and ordered to surrender his birth certificate and his and his family's passports and agree to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.
Sholom Rubashkin was not allowed to leave Allamakee County or on any of Agriprocessors' property and was barred from having contact with potential witnesses.
Sholom Rubashkin was convicted in November 2009 on 86 charges of financial fraud, including bank fraud, mail and wire fraud and money laundering.
Sholom Rubashkin's lawyers requested that he be sent to Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville due to the services the prison provides to religious Jewish inmates; Reade placed the request and the BOP granted it.
Sholom Rubashkin's lawyers stated that he wished to be eventually sent to a lower-security prison.
Separate from the federal trials, Sholom Rubashkin went on trial on the child labor charges in state court in Waterloo, Iowa, starting May 4,2010.
Sholom Rubashkin was acquitted of all charges on June 7,2010, but Agriprocessors, which had been purchased by Heshy Friedman, entered a guilty plea to the 83 child labor charges, and the plant's human resources manager pleaded to state child labor charges under an agreement with the state.
On January 3,2011, Sholom Rubashkin's lawyers filed an appeal for a new trial with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St Louis.
Reade's "excessive coziness" with prosecutors planning the raid raised doubts about her impartiality in the case, the brief claims, and states that as a result Reade should have recused herself, and that Sholom Rubashkin is entitled to a new trial or, at a minimum, an evidentiary hearing.
Sholom Rubashkin's attorney said they would appeal to the US Supreme Court.
In early April 2012, Sholom Rubashkin petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, asking the Court to look into his case and sentencing.
Opponents of undocumented immigration were upset by the commutation, and reportedly Trump did not answer a reporter's question that was shouted at him about whether he knew Sholom Rubashkin had hired undocumented immigrants.