Paul Kruse

Former Blue Bell Creameries President and CEO Paul Kruse was indicted in May 2020 on seven felony counts for concealing the deadly 2015 listeria outbreak on the same day the company plead guilty and agreed to pay a $19 million fine. Kruse has been charged with one count of conspiracy and six counts of wire fraud/attempted wire fraud. The company, meanwhile, will pay a $17.25 million criminal fine and a $2.1 million civil fine for selling tainted ice cream to federal facilities. Kruse was allegedly made aware in February 2015 that ice cream made at the company’s Brenham plant tested positive for listeria in South Carolina. For the next two months, the DOJ said, Kruse ordered Blue Bell executives and employees to hide the outbreak from retailers and customers, according to the indictment. Kruse joined Blue Bell in 1986—although he grew up working in the Brenham plant—before rising to chief executive officer in 2004. He retired in February 2017.