Don frees big B’klyn fraudster
AN INFLUENTIAL kosher slaughterhouse king from Brooklyn was freed from prison after his fraud conviction was commuted by President Trump.
Sholom Rubashkin, 57, was sentenced to 27 years in prison for 86 counts of financial crimes as well as lying on the witness stand in 2009.
On Wednesday, Trump commuted his sentence, leaving in place a period of supervised release, according to The Yeshiva World, which first reported the move.
The White House noted Rubashkin had bipartisan support, and that “many have called (his sentence) excessive in light of its disparity with sentences imposed for similar crimes.”
Before his conviction, Rubashkin ran a massive kosher meatprocessing company in Iowa.
The father of 10 has long had political support. Reps. Jerrold Nadler, Eliot Engel, Carolyn Maloney and Yvette Clarke, all Democrats, have lobbied for a review of his case.
Rubashkin has also been backed by the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic community, which has its headquarters in Crown Heights.
The news set off a celebration inside its main synagogue, with rabbis and yeshiva students dancing and singing. A similar scene took place in synagogues in Borough Park and at other Chabad locations.
“We are all celebrating because a great man was released from jail. Now that he’s free, everyone is rejoicing, people not even knowing him,” said Meyer Malinas, 15, outside Chabad headquarters on Eastern Parkway. ALBANY — A national liquor wholesaler will pay at least $2.5 million in fines to settle charges its sales staff engaged in a “pay to play” scheme to win business, the State Liquor Authority announced Wednesday.
Investigators found that representatives of Miami-based Southern Glazer Wine & Spirits provided illegal gifts to restaurants to secure purchase agreements.
Specifically, the company’s sales people ran up large expenses on their corporate credit cards at favored establishments without receiving anything in return, the SLA reported.
Southern Glazer faced a total of $3.5 million in fines — the largest penalty ever imposed by the SLA — but state officials agreed to suspend $1 million because the company is cooperating with the investigation.