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Chabad-linked rabbi fined $0.5 million in toxic waste case
By Saul Sadka
Tags: Crown Heights 

Rabbi Moshe Rubashkin, the head of the Chabad-dominated Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, has pleaded guilty to illegally storing chemical waste at a textile mill owned by his family.

In a plea bargain with prosecutors, Rubashkin and his son Sholom agreed to pay nearly half a million dollars to reimburse the local and federal agencies that were forced to clean up the mill site after the Rubashkin family denied ownership of the plant. (Click here for U.S. Department of Justice statement on their arrests)

The rabbi's son, Sholom Rubashkin, confessed last month to lying to federal agents when he falsely claimed his family had no interest in the mill at the time the offenses were committed. Moshe Rubashkin, 50, and his son Sholom Rubashkin, 28, face sentencing later in the year, and each face a maximum of $250,000 in fines and 5 years in jail.
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The Montex Textiles mill in Allentown, Pennsylvania was purchased by the Rubashkin family in 1989, and was operated by them until its closure in 2001. In 2002, the family sold the mill to a corporation called "Skyline Industries." The mill suffered a series of fires in 2005, one of which was ruled to be caused by arson.

According to the indictment in the case, Skyline refused to clean up the waste that was subsequently found at the site by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and local and federal agencies were forced to undertake the cleanup.

According to prosecutors, the waste posed a critical health hazard to the surrounding residents, with highly flammable material stored. The EPA found aluminium powder and hydrogen peroxide stored alongside corrosive acids.

The Justice Department statement on the case quotes Pat Meehan, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, as saying that, "This kind of material, when improperly stored, is the equivalent of a lit fuse to the surrounding community."

Prosecutors alleged that the Rubashkin family had maintained an interest in the plant, following its sale to Skyline and during subsequent complex financial transactions relating to the site. Prosecutors had alleged that when questioned by the EPA, Sholom Rubashkin had knowingly made false statements regarding the interests that his family held in the mill.

Moshe Rubashkin has a police record going back to the 1980s. In 2002, he pleaded guilty to a count of bank fraud for passing bad checks and was fined over $200,000 and jailed for 15 months with a subsequent five-year probation period. In 1995, Rubashkin was found to have engaged in inequitable labor practices at another textile mill under his family's ownership in Brooklyn.

After leaving jail, he was elected to head the council in Crown Heights despite being on probation for fraud. The Crown Heights Jewish Community Council is elected by members of the local Chabad affiliating community based in the Brooklyn neighborhood where the movements headquarters are located. The community is thought to number around 15,000.

Rubashkins are seen as an "influential" family within the Chabad movement. Moshe Rubashkin's father, Rabbi Aaron Rubashkin, established the major kosher abattoir AgriProcessors in Postville, Iowa in 1987. The plant is the largest supplier of kosher meat in the United States. Rubashkin's brother-in-law is the prominent Republican fundraiser Rabbi Milton Balkany, reportedly nicknamed "The Brooklyn Bundler", due to his fundraising tactics.

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  1.   Man of religion? 19:09  |  oliver masterman 06/02/08
  2.   Hypocrites 19:20  |  MIKE 06/02/08
  3.   Number 1 19:39  |  Leonard 06/02/08
  4.   chabad rabbi - toxic to judaism 19:40  |  ben 06/02/08
  5.   In God we Trust 19:47  |  Dave 06/02/08
  6.   to #1 19:59  |  Harriet 06/02/08
  7.   Disgrace to Chabad, Judaism and Religion ! 20:03  |  Shloimie 06/02/08
  8.   Has nothing to do with relgion 20:29  |  pal 06/02/08
  9.   Chabad and the law 20:36  |  leon 06/02/08
  10.   hes not a "top chabad rabbi" 20:40  |  yg 06/02/08
  11.   rubashkin 20:45  |  leah kleim 06/02/08
  12.   We know him, he is not a rabbi 20:46  |  Zvi Drizin 06/02/08
  13.   Excuses for hate 20:55  |  J. Hend 06/02/08
  14.   another case of bad leadership 20:58  |  Bill 06/02/08
  15.   "Top US Chabad Rabbi"??? 21:11  |  Shlomoh 06/02/08
  16.   I know Moishe he is no Rabbi and he does not pretend to be 21:18  |  NS 06/02/08
  17.   rubashkin 21:19  |  yitz 06/02/08
  18.   "Top Rabbi" 21:36  |  Max Samuels 06/02/08
  19.   White collar crimes never lower their status 21:40  |  Judith 06/02/08
  20.   Rabbi? Puleeze he is a regular guy 21:41  |  shmulevitch 06/02/08
  21.   News?? 21:41  |  ze`ev 06/02/08
  22.   He worships MONEY not GOD 21:41  |  Observor 06/02/08
  23.   sympathy for an ex-con got him voted in 21:52  |  lois 06/02/08
  24.   He is a Rabbi, a sooper dooper one 22:02  |  Bunko boy 06/02/08
  25.   #20 Shmulevitz 22:09  |  judith 06/02/08
  26.   Haaretz - Saqul Sadka _ Hypocrites 22:19  |  David 06/02/08
  27.   Smear Campaign against a charitable and fine family 22:22  |  Nootie 06/02/08
  28.   So if he is not a "Top Rabbi" 22:25  |  CW 06/02/08
  29.   It seems that haaretz publishes any bit of... 22:54  |  Jack 06/02/08
  30.   Was this an Arab or a Muslim, could you imagine the Outrage? 23:14  |  Goyim 06/02/08
  31.   reminds me of "Top Jew caught...." 23:24  |  Halevi 06/02/08
  32.   chabad should take this as a lesson 00:12  |  BAM 07/02/08
  33.   He is not a Rabbi! 01:36  |  Robin 07/02/08
  34.   Re:Saul Sadka - Toronto 01:38  |  Robin 07/02/08
  35.   He is no Rabbi, just a common criminal 08:07  |  Aaron Hershkop 07/02/08
  36.   Rabbis 12:05  |  Uzi 07/02/08
  37.   He is not a Rabbi, but Haaretz wants anti-religious headlines 21:15  |  Isaac 08/02/08
  38.   executive leadership 09:02  |  che 04/03/09
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