© Reuters.
By Nate Raymond
(Reuters) – The previous chief govt of Blue Bell Creameries will plead responsible to a misdemeanor cost beneath a deal by which prosecutors have agreed to drop fraud costs in opposition to him associated to a 2015 listeria outbreak traced again to the corporate’s contaminated ice cream.
Paul Kruse, the corporate’s former president and CEO, agreed to plead responsible to having triggered adulterated ice cream merchandise to be distributed and pay a $100,000 effective beneath an settlement filed on Wednesday in federal court docket in Austin, Texas.
The deal got here practically three years after the U.S. Division of Justice first introduced felony fraud costs in opposition to Kruse arising out of the lethal outbreak. His trial in August ended with a hung jury, and a retrial had been set for April.
Below the deal, which is topic to a choose’s approval, Kruse would serve no time in jail, and the Justice Division agreed to dismiss 5 fraud costs in opposition to him.
“The settlement confirms what Mr. Kruse has been saying from the very starting, nobody at Blue Bell ever meant to defraud its clients, and we’re glad that the federal government has reached the identical conclusion,” Chris Flood, his legal professional, stated in an announcement.
The Justice Division had no quick remark.
The Texas-based ice cream producer in 2020 agreed to pay $19.35 million and plead responsible to costs that it shipped contaminated merchandise linked to the outbreak.
The corporate finally recalled its ice cream in 2015 after 10 reported instances of listeria in 4 states had been linked to its merchandise. Three folks died.
Prosecutors had accused Kruse of concealing what the corporate knew concerning the contamination of its merchandise.
He’ll now plead responsible to a misdemeanor beneath the Meals, Drug and Beauty Act, a legislation that may impose legal responsibility with out regard to intent or data of the contaminated merchandise.
