Get this: one of the charges in the Rubashkin case is that he paid a cattle supplier late, violating the 1921 Packers and Stockyards Act and costing the supplier a grand total of... $3,800.51!! This article was posted online recently and includes a lot of interesting facts about this case.
Here's a sampling:
Ironically, Rubashkin was not tried for hiring or mistreating illegal aliens. Instead, he was charged with financial crimes, including violating the obscure 1921 Packers and Stockyards Act, section 409 of which requires payment to cattle suppliers within 24 hours. In many cases, Rubashkin paid his vendors several days late. In a detailed sentencing memorandum, the prosecution points to 31 cattle suppliers who were not paid within 24 hours—but were indeed paid. Specifically, on page 25 of the memo, prosecutors assert, “The actual loss to each Packer's Act victim is attributable to the fact that they all lost the time value of their money while they were waiting for payment.” As an example, the government sentencing memo declares, “Waverly Sales, Inc. has quantified the amount of their actual loss to be $3,800.51. This is based upon the amount of interest Waverly paid on a mortgage loan it took out on its property in order to cover the cost of the cattle sold to Agriprocessors while it was waiting for payment through the Packer's trust.” As such, Rubashkin is to get a life sentence in part because his supplier lost interest waiting for full payment, which was actually made, but made days late. Indeed, this is the first criminal prosecution under the 90-year-old Packers and Stockyards Act any legal expert contacted could remember.