Opening arguments in slaughterhouse fraud trial
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Opening arguments are set to begin in the financial fraud trial of a former manager of an Iowa kosher slaughterhouse that was the site of a massive immigration raid.
Former Agriprocessors, Inc., manager Sholom Rubashkin faces 91 financial charges. Prosecutors say he directed employees to create records for sales that never happened. They also accuse him of laundering more than $1 million.
A jury was chosen late Tuesday.
Rubashkin’s trial was moved from Iowa to South Dakota after a federal judge ruled nega-tive pretrial publicity caused potential jurors to develop a bias against him and Agriproces-sors.
The Agriprocessors slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, was raided in May 2008 and 389 ille-gal immigrants were found working in the plant.
