A 73-year-old Cedar Rapids businessman was indicted Thursday in federal court on 19 counts involving the sale of misbranded “Halal” beef products and falsifying export documents and certificates.
William B. Aossey, Jr., owner and founder of Midamar Corp. and registered agent of Islamic Services of America, both operated from 1105 60th Ave. SW, is charged with one count of conspiracy to make false statements, sell misbranded meat, and commit mail and wire fraud; seven counts of making or causing false statements to be made on export applications; seven counts of wire fraud; three counts of money laundering; and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
His initial appearance and arraignment is set Oct. 30 in U.S. District Court.
According to the indictment, Midamar sells and distributes food products throughout the world and markets its products as meeting the strictest Halal beef slaughtering standards. Islamic Services of America certifies food products as Halal for customers throughout the world.
Malaysia and Indonesia restrict the import of Halal beef to products that had been certified by a specifically approved certifying entity, according to the indictment. Indonesia and Malaysia also restricted the import of Halal products since May 2008 to those products that have been slaughtered at a facility approved by each country. Islamic Services of America is one of the few organizations approved by Malaysia and Indonesia to certify Halal beef for import into those countries.
An exporter of these products is required to truthfully and accurately complete specific forms which account for all the products contained in the shipment and certify the products meet the import requirements of the importing country, according to the indictment.
According to the indictment, Aossey conspired and agreed with others known to the grand jury to commit violations of law within the jurisdiction of Department of Agriculture by covering up material facts by a scheme, make false and fraudulent statements, to make and use false documents, sell misbranded products and make false statements on export certificates.
Aossey and others are accused of generating a variety of fabricated certificates and writings, including export documents, that contained falsified information concerning the source and nature of the beef products, according to the indictment. The false certificates and writings were created to show the shipments complied with import requirements of the countries where the beef was shipped.
According to the indictment, customer orders were taken by Midamar for the sale and export of Halal beef products to customers in Malaysia and Indonesia. Midamar placed orders by phone or email with a slaughter and production facility in Windom, Minn., which wasn’t certified by the two countries for export. The Windom facility shipped beef products to Midamar to fulfill orders placed with the Windom facility by Midamar.
The beef slaughtered and produced by the Windom facility and shipped to Midamar was marked with a USDA establishment number and those labels were removed by Midamar employees and replaced with a Midamar USDA establishment number.
The indictment also includes specific payments wired to Midamar’s bank accounts for the transactions of the products and lists USDA export certificates. Each is “alleged to constitute a separate overt act.”
The indictment also contains two forfeiture allegations for proceeds and property involved in some of the offenses. The property includes a money judgment of $134,080.
If Aossey is convicted on all counts, the conspiracy charge penalty is up to five years in prison, each count of making a false statement on an export application is up to three years in prison, each count of wire fraud is up to 20 years in prison and each count of money laundering, including the money laundering conspiracy, is up to 20 years in prison.
He also would face a fine up to $250,000 that could be imposed on each count, along with a term of supervised release.