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SK Foods
IndustryAgriculture
Headquarters
United States
ProductsTomatoes
SK Foods was a major tomato processor

SK Foods L.P. was a California-based agribusiness company, with two packing and processing plants in Williams, California, and Lemoore, California, respectively.[1] It was a major tomato processor.[2] SK Foods, Ingomar Packing Co. and Los Gatos Tomato products formed the California Tomato Export Group, (CTEG),[3] which collectively produced over half of the U.S. supply of tomato products at the time of the group's formation in 2005.[2] The company's Williams plant has employed hundreds of people each summer to can and process tomatoes during harvest season.[1]

Controversy

Former owner Scott Salyer was accused of racketeering and corruption in early 2010 stemming from what was purported to be a five-year investigation targeting the processed-tomato division of his company SK Foods by the United States Department of Justice.[4] The petition of innocence seeking Presidential Pardon relief filed by Salyer with The United States Department of Justice Office of The Pardon Attorney is pending.[5]

The investigation, named "Operation Rotten Tomato" by Federal investigators,[6] was prompted when Dale Campbell of Weintraub Tobin representing The Morning Star Packing Company, paid for an internal investigation, the Vilfer Report, over an embezzlement by a former sales executive who had subsequently gone to work at SK Foods L.P. having been turned into a key informant for the FBI and operative working with the FBI against Salyer.[7][8][9] Investigators alleged that the company bribed buyers such as Frito-Lay, Kraft Foods and Safeway to accept tomato paste with higher mold counts than listed, to pay above-market prices, and to provide SK with information on competitors' activities. Court documents filed by the lawfirm of Keker and Vannest demonstrate Salyer and SK Foods never paid any bribes, while senior district Judge Lawrence K. Karlton found no calculable victimization recommending parties should seek civil remedies, in United States Eastern District of California Sacramento, CA case number 2:10-cr-00061 LKK. In the case 2:2009-cv-00208 Morning Star Packing Company, et al v. SK Foods, et al chief District Judge Kimberly J. Meuller found against the Plaintiff, The Morning Star Packing Company, and Ruled the Morning Star failed to prove its allegation of crime of conspiracy and bribery scheme. This Ruling was upheld in No. 19-16649 D.C. No. 2:09-cv-00208-KJM-EFB by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on December 21, 2020 validating the original finding made by Judge Karlton in 2013.[8][10] SK Foods lenders forced an involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy instant action in May 2009, in United States Eastern District of California Sacramento, CA case number Case 09-28956 referencing news articles that reported the FBI investigation as justification for withholding financing.[7][11][12] SK Foods L.P. was transferred in an 11 U.S. Code § 363 transaction, initiated by the Duly Appointed and Acting Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Trustee Bradley D. Sharp a member of the Board of Directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the President & CEO of Development Specialists, Inc. Los Angeles office, in United States Eastern District of California Sacramento, CA case number 09-29160,[13] in June 2009 to Olam International, based in Singapore.[1] It is now known as Olam Tomato Processors. An associated produce company, Salyer American Fresh Foods, was forced to close after its lender referenced a news article as justification to stop providing the company with money.[14]

On March 23, 2012, Salyer entered into a Plea Agreement supplied by the United States Department of Justice which identified one count price-fixing in the antitrust case and one count racketeering in the RICO 1964 case, counts 1 and 8.[15][16][17] One RICO count alone risks a 30 year mandatory minimum sentence according to the United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines.[18] A federal judge on Tuesday appeared perplexed how the former millionaire agribusiness owner ended up in the jam he confronted in a 15th-floor courtroom.[7][19]

U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence K. Karlton questioned why the 57-year-old threw away a Monterey-based farming empire that stretched from the San Joaquin Valley to New Zealand. "Here's a millionaire who risked everything for nothing,” the judge said. "I don't understand it.”[7] Another highly contentious case involving former national security adviser, Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, casts suspicion on the legitimacy of certain actions taken by career professionals and appointees to positions of power in the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[20][21] Ripe for scrutiny in the Salyer debacle similarly in the Flynn debacle is the appearance that agents working at the FBI altered FBI FD-302 reports in order to improve chances for prosecution.[22] Then Congressman Devin Nunes the representative from California's 22nd congressional district which includes the city of Lemoore states that "there is a collapse of institutions across this country".[23][24]

The controversy involving SK Foods L.P. has since become a case study[25] underpinning academic research published in scholarly journals looking into issues in the financial industry, political economy, International affairs and International and other extra-territorial public administration.[26][27] The works' researcher and author is Monika London as Monika L. Sheldon-London.

The Supporters of Scott Salyer also provide information.[28]

References

  1. ^ a b c "SK Foods' sale good news for tomato growers". Marysville Appeal-Democrat. June 27, 2009.
  2. ^ a b New charges filed against California tomato mogul, Los Angeles Times, April 30, 2010.
  3. ^ "US Dept of Commerce CTEG Export Trade Certificate of Review" (PDF). OperationRottenTomato.com. February 21, 2006. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  4. ^ "Tomatoes, eggs in pricing probe". Los Angeles Times. September 24, 2008. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  5. ^ "Pardon after Completion of sentence". The United States Department of Justice. December 30, 2020. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  6. ^ "Scott Salyer's Sentencing Is Again Delayed -- But the Plot Thickens as Allegations Abound in the Unprecedented Case Against the Controversial Figure Behind "Operation Rotten Tomato" Operation Fast and Furious". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  7. ^ a b c d "Judge asks why one-time millionaire risked ag empire". The Herald. February 12, 2013. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  8. ^ a b "'Operation Rotten Tomato' Case Speak Out Against Injustice After Sentencing". Yahoo Finance. February 19, 2013. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  9. ^ "Defendant F. Scott Salyer's Opposition to Morning Star Motion To Quash Subpoenas Case No. 2:10-CR-0061-LKK(GGH)" (PDF). OperationRottenTomato.com. February 18, 2010. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  10. ^ "Tomato king Scott Salyer a man of his past". Monterey County Herald.
  11. ^ Withers, Dawn (8 May 2009). "SK Foods lenders force bankruptcy". The Packer.
  12. ^ Bribes Let Tomato Vendor Sell Tainted Food, The New York Times, February 24, 2010.
  13. ^ "American Bankruptcy Institute Board of Directors". ABI. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  14. ^ Withers, Dawn (20 May 2009). "Salyer American Fresh Foods closing". The Packer. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  15. ^ "The Case Docket #: 2:10-cr-00061 LKK Exhibit A Plea Agreement". Supporters of Scott Salyer. March 23, 2012. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  16. ^ "Founder of Central Valley tomato firm guilty in price-fixing case". Los Angeles Times. March 23, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  17. ^ "SK Foods founder pleads guilty in fraud case". Reuters. Mar 23, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  18. ^ "Federal Sentencing Guidelines". United States Government Sentencing Commission. March 23, 2012. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  19. ^ "Lawrence Karlton". Judgepedia. December 23, 2013. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  20. ^ "Flynn lawyer spoke with Trump, she reveals in contentious hearing". Politico. September 29, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  21. ^ "DOJ Entrapment FBI Manipuation 302 Reports". Youtube. March 7, 2013. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15.
  22. ^ "GOP lawmaker says evidence might have been tampered with in Flynn case". June 21, 2018. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  23. ^ "Cross Roads with Joshua Phillip - CPAC 2021: Rep Devin Nunes on Durham Resignation, Crossfire Hurricane & Restoring Justice in America". YouTube. February 26, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  24. ^ "High Level Synopsis of the Stocktake of the Unintended Consequences of the FATF Standards" (PDF). FATF GAFI Secretariat OECD. October 27, 2021. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  25. ^ "Accountability Asset Recovery: A Leadership & Sustainability Initiative Receivership Is NOT Releasership". Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics. 18 (3). Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics; West Palm Beach Vol. 18 No. 3 (2021). 2021. doi:10.33423/jlae.v18i3.4406. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  26. ^ "Accountability Asset Recovery: A Leadership & Sustainability Initiative 5th Paper Presentation in the Series" (PDF). Retrieved February 27, 2021 – via ProQuest.
  27. ^ "Accountability Asset Recovery: A Leadership and Sustainability Initiative". Journal of Applied Business and Economics; West Palm Beach Vol. 22 No. 13 (2020). Retrieved May 26, 2021.
  28. ^ "Supporters of Scott Salyer Advanced Search Results". NASDAQ. Retrieved December 26, 2021.

Further reading

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