Bank seeking Agriprocessors’ collateral after slaughterhouse defaults on loan

The Associated Press

IOWA CITY (AP) – A St. Louis-based bank is seeking all of Agriprocessors’ collateral, claiming the slaughterhouse defaulted on a $35 million loan.

First Bank says in a lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids that Agriprocessors overstated how much money it has available and that the company hasn’t met its loan payments.

The suit names Agriprocessors owner Aaron Rubashkin, his son and former CEO Sholom Rubashkin and slaughterhouses in Postville, Iowa, and Gordon, Neb. In addition to livestock and plant equipment, the suit includes the Rubashkins’ personal property as collateral.

If the bank prevails, the suit says it will hold foreclosure sales of the company’s assets.

Agriprocessors’s Postville plant was the site of a May immigration raid that resulted in 389 arrests.