SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- A bank vice president has testified in the federal trial of former kosher slaughterhouse manager Sholom Rubashkin that he didn't personally keep tabs on a loan to the company.
First Bank vice president Gary Pratte testified Tuesday that the $35 million loan to the Agriprocessors, Inc., plant was closely monitored by bank employees, but not by himself. This was the case even after a huge immigration raid at the Postville plant.
Rubashkin faces 91 financial charges, including bank fraud.
Defense attorney Guy Cook says the bank's "blind indifference" to the record keeping at Agriprocessors is evidence the bank was willing to overlook the plant's problems so it could continue to collect on its loan.
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