Here’s the latest from the SEIU corruption
trial that's taking place in a federal courthouse in Los Angeles.
A week ago, federal prosecutors rested their case after presenting
multiple days of testimony to the jury. Next, it was time for SEIU’s Tyrone Freeman to make his case, and Freeman’s lawyers apparently presented only one day of testimony in Freeman’s
defense.
Then, on Wednesday, each side delivered their “closing arguments” to
the jury, according to an article entitled “Ex-SEIU Top Dog Embezzled Dues for
Travel, Jury Hears.” Here’s an excerpt from the article (see full text below):
During closing arguments Wednesday in the two-week criminal trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence S. Middleton said Freeman “ran everything” in regard to the union and its funds.“What this trial is about is who's minding the store,” Middleton said. “Because in his world, the defendant was the most powerful man on earth.”Prosecutors claim that Freeman funneled to his relatives hundreds of thousands of dollars of union members' dues and money from a related charity. Freeman also allegedly billed the union for his wedding in Hawaii, violated federal tax laws and lied to a mortgage lender at Countrywide Financial Corp.
So who sat in the witness box during prosecutors’ case? Tasty doesn’t have a
complete list, but here are some of the witnesses:
- Katinka Walker (she testified that in August of 2006, Freeman was in Hawaii getting married to Pilar Planells)
- Alicia Carrera (the Finance Director for SEIU Local 6434)
- Nicole Ward (the Political Director at SEIU Local 6434. She helped Freeman get tickets to the Pro Bowl game in Hawaii.)
- Amelia Faulan (she became Freeman’s personal assistant after Freeman married his first personal assistant)
- Deidrea Sherman (an SEIU official who served as a trustee of SEIU Local 434B)
- Dereck Smith (the Chair of the Board of the Long Term Housing Corporation, which helped carry out one of Freeman’s embezzlement schemes. Smith also served as SEIU Local 6434’s Director of IT.)
- Desiree Burton (an executive at a not-for-profit that operates continuing care retirement communities)
- Carl Anthony Lee (the CEO of Dickerson Employee Benefits, which was involved in several of of Freeman’s schemes, including the multi-million-dollar TelaDoc scam that was foisted on SEIU’s low-wage members)
- Two employees from the University of Hawaii who testified that there’s no record of Freeman ever attending an “executive management class” at the university in August of 2006.
And who took the witness stand during Freeman’s case? Not clear. Curiously, the court
has blocked access to the list of the defense team’s witnesses. Why? Good question.
In other trial news, Andy
Stern’s name was batted around the federal courtroom this week. And a letter
written by Stern, who’s SEIU’s President Emeritus, was presented to the jury. In the 2006 letter, Stern announces that he's personally appointing Freeman to
his position atop a union of 160,000 SEIU members. Stern then reportedly stood by
as Freeman robbed and plundered between $14-15 million from low-wage workers, according
to sworn
testimony from a top SEIU official.
Here’s an excerpt from Stern’s letter, which was presented
to the jury on January 15th:
Dear Brother Freeman:Consistent with my authority under Article XIV, Section 1 of the SEIU Constitution and Bylaws, I hereby establish SEIU United Long Term Care Workers Union, Local 6434. This local union shall have jurisdiction for long term care workers throughout the state of California as set forth in the June 2006 International Executive Board (IEB) decision on California local union jurisdiction.In addition, I hereby name you as the Provisional President of the local union...
Here's the full letter:
Again, it's super revealing that Stern made this appointment a
full five years after he’d reportedly received reports about Freeman’s fraud, theft and
corruption. Was Stern concerned that Freeman was literally stealing
wheelbarrows of cash from the union's members? Nope.
The jury also heard testimony about the Purple Palace’s 2006
decision to create a “new jurisdictional structure for California’s long-term
care workers,” which was personally backed by SEIU President Mary Kay Henry. This decision gave
Freeman the responsibility for an
additional 40,000-50,000 SEIU members… and importantly handed Freeman access to millions more
dollars of workers’ dues payments.
Finally, here’s the article describing the closing arguments to the jury, which took place Wednesday:
Ex-SEIU Top Dog Embezzled Dues For Travel, Jury HearsLaw360, Los Angeles (January 23, 2013, 8:37 PM ET) -- Tyrone Ricky Freeman, former top official for the biggest Service Employees International Union branch in California, embezzled union members' dues by taking personal trips, including one to Hawaii, and committed other acts of fraud, a federal prosecutor told a California jury in closing arguments Wednesday.Freeman was the president of Local 6434 of SEIU from 2000 to 2008 and is facing 14 criminal counts, including mail fraud, embezzlement of labor union assets, making false statements and subscribing to a false tax return. He was indicted in July.During closing arguments Wednesday in the two-week criminal trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence S. Middleton said Freeman “ran everything” in regard to the union and its funds.“What this trial is about is who's minding the store,” Middleton said. “Because in his world, the defendant was the most powerful man on earth.”Prosecutors claim that Freeman funneled to his relatives hundreds of thousands of dollars of union members' dues and money from a related charity. Freeman also allegedly billed the union for his wedding in Hawaii, violated federal tax laws and lied to a mortgage lender at Countrywide Financial Corp.But Kelly B. Kramer of Mayer Brown LLP, one of Freeman's lawyers, told the jury that the case “screams reasonable doubt.”“There's not remotely enough [evidence] here to conclude that Mr. Freeman embezzled union funds beyond a reasonable doubt,” Kramer said, adding that Freeman was entitled to an acquittal if he acted in good faith while spending the money as Local 6434 president.“If Mr. Freeman had a good faith belief that he was entitled to the money, even if he wasn't, it is a complete defense,” Kramer said.Kramer also told the jury that Freeman conducted business on his wedding trip, which cost $30,000.Kramer accused federal agents investigating the case of “cherry-picking” facts and ignoring evidence of Freeman's innocence in order to convict him.Local 6434 of SEIU, known as United Long Term Care Workers, had more than 160,000 members during Freeman's tenure as president, making it the largest in California and the second-largest in the nation.Freeman was also the president of California United Homecare Workers, which had 30,000 members when he led it, according to the Los Angeles Times, whose reporting on Freeman's financial dealings spurred a federal criminal investigation.Pilar Planells-Freeman, Tyrone Freeman's wife, pled guilty in July to a misdemeanor count of willful failure to file an income tax return. Planells-Freeman was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay more than $129,000 in back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service. The charge was connected to money she received in consultant payments from SEIU.Freeman is represented by Kelly B. Kramer and William B. Michael Jr. of Mayer Brown LLP.The case is USA v. Tyrone Ricky Freeman, case number 2:12-cr-00734, in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.--Editing by Lindsay Naylor.
