Midamar corporate officers indicted on 92 counts involving misbranding Halal beef products

12/6/2014

Brothers Jalel and William Aossey, with Midamar Corp., were charged with a variety of counts of fraud

Local and federal officials on scene at MidAmar, an international food supplied based in southwest Cedar Rapids on Wednesday, October 17, 2012. (Christy Aumer/The Gazette)

CEDAR RAPIDS — Corporate officers of Midamar Corp. and Islamic Services of America in Cedar Rapids were indicted on 92 federal charges Friday, involving mislabeling of Halal beef products and falsifying documents.

Jalel Aossey, 40 and brother William “Yahya” Aossey, 44, both of Cedar Rapids, and each of the businesses are charged with one count of conspiracy to make and use materially false statements and documents; sell misbranded meat; and commit wire fraud.

Their father William Aossey, 73, founder of Midamar, was charged with 19 similar counts last month. His trial was just reset to March 9.

According to the indictment on the sons, each is also charged with three counts of making false statements on export applications; 44 counts of wire fraud; 44 counts of money laundering; and one count of conspiring to commit money laundering.

The indictment also contains two forfeiture allegations, seeking proceeds and property involved in certain offenses.

Jalel Aossey wasn’t available for comment Friday afternoon. He did say in a previous interview regarding his father’s charges last month that they were “regulatory infractions” that had been corrected. He said he and his brother supported their father and he didn’t understand why this “mislabeling issue” turned into a criminal investigation.

Jalel Aossey pointed out last month that money was seized from the company accounts in 2012 by federal authorities and then were returned with no wrongdoing found.

If convicted, the conspiracy charge is punishable by up to five years in prison, each count of making a false statement on an export application is punishable by up to three years in prison.

Each count of wire fraud, money laundering, including the money laundering conspiracy, is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. A fine of up to $250,000 may also be imposed on each count, along with a term of supervised release following prison time.

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