Midamar and ISA Owners Plead Guilty

Jalel Aossey, age 40, and Yahya Nasser Aossey, age 45, both of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and owners of Midamar Corporation (Midamar) and ISA, Inc., d/b/a “Islamic Services of America” (ISA) pleaded guilty today in United States District Court in Cedar Rapids.

Jalel Aossey, President of Midamar, pleaded guilty to Count 1 of the indictment filed December 5, 2014, charging a conspiracy to commit the following federal offenses: mail and wire fraud; covering up material facts by a scheme; making and using false statements and documents in a matter within the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture; making false statements on export certificates with the intent to defraud; and selling misbranded meat in interstate commerce with the intent to defraud.

As part of the factual stipulations submitted in support of the guilty plea, it was established Jalel Aossey knew USDA establishment numbers were falsified on meat products and documents in order to export beef products to Malaysia and Indonesia.  He also knew several representations made on the corporate websites of Midamar and ISA were false and fraudulent, including claims that: 1) certain beef products had been “hand-slaughtered by a Muslim slaughterman;” 2) “the use of penetrative captive bolt stunning negates the Halal slaughter process,” despite the fact that meat products sold by Midamar and certified as Halal by ISA had been killed using brain penetrating captive bolt stunning; and 3) Kosher is different than Halal, yet sold Kosher-slaughtered meat as Halal.  

As part of the plea agreement Jalel Aossey will be required to resign any position he now holds with Midamar or North American Halal Food Industries (HFP) (another Cedar Rapids business owned by the Aosseys), entities regulated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).  Jalel Aossey further agreed to divest himself of any ownership in either business, and to take no part in the operations of either business for a period of five years.  Jalel Aossey will be permitted to file an appeal challenging the jurisdiction of district court.

The conspiracy charge is punishable by: (1) up to five years’ imprisonment without the possibility of parole; (2) a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss resulting from the offense, whichever is greater; (3) a mandatory special assessment of $100; and (4) a term of supervised release of up to three years.

­Yahya Aossey pleaded guilty as a responsible corporate officer to two counts of selling, transporting, and offering for sale and transportation in commerce, meat and meat food products that were misbranded at the time of sale or transportation, as alleged in an Information filed yesterday.  As part of his plea agreement, prosecution on the conspiracy charge contained in Count 1 of the Indictment will be deferred for a period of five years, subject to compliance with the terms of a pretrial diversion agreement.

The misbranding charges are each punishable by: (1) up to one year imprisonment without the possibility of parole; (2) a fine of up to $100,000; (3) a mandatory special assessment of $25; and (4) a term of supervised release of up to one year.

In addition to the above pleas of guilty, Jalel Aossey, Yahya Aossey, Midamar Corporation, and HFP will be subject to terms and conditions of consent decrees entered into with the USDA.  Pursuant to those agreements, each of the parties will be required abide by certain conditions concerning the oversight and management of the food businesses.  Any violation of those consent agreements could result in the USDA revoking the operating authority of Midamar or HFP.  

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Richard L. Murphy and was investigated by the Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General Office of Investigations, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.  The case file number is 14-CR-00138-LRR.

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