LOS ANGELES, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 02/06/13 -- Three years after his initial arrest, Scott Salyer, former CEO of SK Foods, is scheduled to be sentenced on February 12 at Sacramento Federal Court per his plea agreement for his alleged role in Operation Rotten Tomato -- the name Federal Investigators gave to the labyrinthine case. Salyer and several associates were charged with inflating prices of processed tomatoes.

Salyer's supporters compare the overzealous, deeply-flawed prosecution of Salyer to the government's vindictiveness against Aaron Swartz, the prominent open-internet advocate who helped build Reddit and RSS. Prosecuted for downloading academic articles from a university archive, Swartz hung himself January 11.

Upon Swartz's suicide, his partner Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman told Mail Online, "The legal system has lost all sense of mercy and justice and it has been replaced with punitiveness and vindictiveness." Salyer's supporters have said about Salyer's case and gathering convincing evidence pointing out flaws and overreach by the Department of Justice since Salyer signed a Plea Agreement on March 23, 2012.

The Swartz case carried the possibility of a 35-year prison sentence, while Salyer's, despite its flaws, carries a potential maximum of 30 years in Federal Prison.

On the civil side of Salyer's case, deposition notices are due to be served from Salyer's side onto bank executives at all the Syndicate Banks.

The Law Firm of Kimberly A. Wright, Esq. states: "Since the time of the 2008 FBI seizure of all SK Foods/RHM Colusa County Canning Co. docs from BMO's US headquarters in Chicago, the BMO attorneys have managed to block the proper flow of Discovery. It's time for the truth/facts that they have been covering up to come to light."

Bank of Montreal's Erica Kuhlman pointed out in 2008, "This FBI investigation has gotten out of control."

Some 560 motions and adversarial proceedings have been launched against Salyer. Over $160 million in judgments have been granted against Salyer. All are currently under appeal.

For more information, visit: www.operationrottentomato.com and www.scott-salyer.com.

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