Grand Jury Returns Indictment Against Meatpacker

A federal grand jury has returned a 12-count indictment against a kosher slaughterhouse that alleges managers were intricately involved in efforts to employ illegal immigrants.

The indictment details allegations of a top manager providing cash for workers to obtain false documents and lower level supervisors helping employees get new paperwork.

The superseding indictment includes three new defendants Brent Beebe, Hosam Amara and Zeev Levi who haven’t previously faced federal charges in connection with the Agriprocessors plant in Postville. The indictment was issued Thursday and unsealed Friday.

Former CEO Sholom Rubashkin and human resources worker Karina Freund, who were already facing federal charges, also were named in the indictment.

It lists charges including conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants for profit, harboring and aiding and abetting undocumented immigrants for profit, conspiracy to commit document fraud, aiding and abetting document fraud, aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft and bank fraud.

Federal immigration agents raided the northeast Iowa plant in May and arrested 389 workers. Arrests of Agriprocessors managers have come in the following months, as have state charges alleging labor and safety violations.

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