Agriprocessors Bankruptcy Trustees Eye Jewish Charities
Trustees appointed to the bankruptcy case of kosher meatpacking plant Agriprocessors are targeting charities that were beneficiaries of donations by the company.
According to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, earlier this month, trustees announced a settlement with Colel Chabad, the oldest continually running charity in Israel, which provides services for widows, orphans and immigrants, including food and medical aid.
Colel Chabad received more than $4 million from Agriprocessors, which was raided in 2008 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Shortly after the raid, Agriprocessors filed for bankruptcy.
Payments were made to Colel Chabad while Agriprocessors was in insolvency. The trustees and the charity settled for $50,000, pending court approval.
In 2012, trustees settled with Bet Kahila-Eighth Degree for $82,000, after the Minnesota-based charity received almost $3 million from Agriprocessors. Trustees will now turn their focus to Torah Education Program of Northeast Iowa, which they claim received $11 million from Agriprocessors.
It’s not the first time bankruptcy trustees have gone after Jewish charities to recoup losses.
In 2010, women’s Zionist group Hadassah had to pay $45 million in a settlement to trustees overseeing the Bernie Madoff case, about half of what they earned in the Ponzi scheme. Hadassah had earned $97 million in profits during its investment with Madoff.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
