Agriprocessors’ Accountant Sentenced for Conspiring to Make False Statements to Bank

May 27, 2010 - Agriprocessors, Inc.’s former head accountant was sentenced today to more than three years in federal prison for conspiring to make false statements to a bank.

Mitch Meltzer, age 50, from Postville, Iowa, received the prison term after a September 28, 2009, guilty plea to one count of conspiring to make false statements and reports to a bank.

At the guilty plea hearing, Meltzer admitted he conspired with others between at least September 2007 and about October 2008 to make false statements to a bank in connection with requests for advances on a loan. He admitted he signed a Collateral Certificate on February 1, 2008, that overstated the value of Agriprocessors’ collateral as part of his employer’s request for an advance on a revolving loan.

According to information disclosed in court, Meltzer was the head accountant at Agriprocessors, Inc. in Postville. Meltzer participated in a scheme with Agriprocessors’ vice-president Sholom Rubashkin and Agriprocessors’ chief financial officer Yomtov (Toby) Bensasson to fraudulently inflate the amount of accounts receivable collateral on Agriprocessors' books. Rubashkin used the inflated collateral numbers to fraudulently borrow more money from the bank than otherwise would have been allowed. At Rubashkin’s direction, Meltzer and Bensasson also manipulated monthly financial statements sent to the bank.

Meltzer was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Meltzer was sentenced to 41 months’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $100 was imposed, and he was ordered to make $26,919,419 in restitution to banks that were victimized by the fraud. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Meltzer is the ninth Agriprocessors’ management or office employee to be sentenced on a federal conviction. Sholom Rubashkin is scheduled to be sentenced on June 22, 2010, at 3:30 p.m. in Cedar Rapids. Rubashkin was convicted by a jury on November 12, 2009, of 86 counts of financial fraud and related offenses.

The United States Attorney's Office works to ensure victims are made whole as quickly as possible and is seeking the public's assistance in locating or identifying Meltzer's assets. If anyone has information regarding Meltzer's assets with a significant value, they are urged to call 319-731-4080.

Meltzer was released on the bond previously set and is to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on a date yet to be set.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Peter E. Deegan, Jr., C.J. Williams, and Matthew Cole and was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.