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Sunday, November 28, 2010

He knew what he was doing:

"American Grocers shipped so much stale merchandise that the company bought paint solvent by the barrel and set up assembly lines to wipe out the old labels to make room for the phony dates."

So what was his intent? Just to make a profit? Or to cripple the military in Iraq as well? Does anyone know? Does anyone care?

After all, we have seen cases like this before, although details remain elusive.

"Texas businessman settles military food mislabeling case for $15 million," by P.J. Huffstutter and Andrew Blankstein for the Los Angeles Times, November 20 (thanks to Creeping Sharia):
A Texas businessman has agreed to pay $15 million to settle federal allegations that he and his company cheated the government by selling old and potentially dangerous food to the U.S. military to supply combat troops serving in Iraq and elsewhere. 
Prosecutors had alleged that Samir Mahmoud Itani and his company American Grocers Ltd. profited from the Middle East conflict by ripping off taxpayers and shortchanging U.S. soldiers in the mess hall. According to the government, Itani's firm bought deeply discounted products whose freshness dates had expired or were nearing expiration. His workers then altered those dates and resold those supplies to the government for hefty markups, prosecutors alleged.
On Friday, Department of Justice officials announced that Itani, his wife, Suzanne, his brother Ziad and the company agreed to pay the penalty to settle the false-claim charges in this federal whistle-blower case.
Suzanne Itani, chief executive of American Grocers, said in a statement that the company denied any wrongdoing and that the settlement was a way to avoid lengthy litigation. She said that the company was "proud of the service and products it delivers to its customers" and that company officials "look forward to returning our full attention to serving our many loyal customers throughout the world."
Samir Itani could not be reached for comment. According to property records, he owns a $2.2-million, 9,931-square-foot mansion with two elevators in an upscale Houston neighborhood.
Prosecutors said that Samir Itani, 51, and a tightknit group of family and business acquaintances sold at least $36 million worth of mislabeled food products to the government. [...]
As the U.S. military presence grew in the Middle East, Itani's business boomed. American Grocers shipped so much stale merchandise that the company bought paint solvent by the barrel and set up assembly lines to wipe out the old labels to make room for the phony dates, according to the complaint.
The Justice Department did not say whether any troops were sickened by the food supplied by American Grocers, or whether any of the food companies that sold items to Itani knew of any wrongdoing.

6 comments:

  1. Pastorius,

    Either this guy's a simple con man or a jihadist trying to sabotage the war effort. Either way, he needs to be punished and I hope he is, severely.

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  2. Pastorius,

    I don't know, but I hope we find out. I'm not going to jump the gun and say he's a jihadist trying to sabotage the war effort, but he could be. But if he is a Jihadist, I really hope they deport him after he spends a few years in one of our prisons.

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  3. assuming of course he's an immigrant, if not, than I just hope they make his life miserable.

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  4. Would the US military contract with Japanese owned grocers during WWII?
    Would that there be real justice - the pc addled multi-culti freaks who signed off on this procurement contract with "American Grocers" - without further investigating the business owners whose names just happen to be Samir and Ziad - these pc addled morons would be convicted along with everyone involved at "American Grocers" and sentenced to dig up the discarded crap they sent to our servicemen and then the convicted would be forced to consume the remaining foodstuffs involved in this case for the remainder of their pc lives.
    Such would make for satisfying reality tv.

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  5. Anonymous,
    I like your way of thinking, but I think the people who approved the contract should also be forced to eat this crap.

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