Breaking news! Just moments ago, a federal jury returned a guilty verdict against SEIU's Tyrone Freeman on all counts, according to a very reliable source.
Tasty hears that the U.S. Attorney's Office will issue a press release during the next 45-60 minutes. Tasty will publish the press release when it's available. Stay tuned!
P.S. Do you like poetic justice? Well check this out. Today's guilty verdict was rendered against corrupt SEIU officials on the anniversary of NUHW's founding: January 28th!
Excerpt from Press Release Issued by Federal Prosecutors:
“This was a case about abuse and betrayal,” said U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr. of Los Angeles. “Freeman abused his position as leader of the SEIU, and he betrayed the hardworking people whose interests he was supposed to represent."Freeman, 43, who is currently residing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was found guilty of four counts of mail fraud, seven counts of embezzlement and/or theft of labor union assets, one count of making a false statement to a federally insured financial institution, and two counts of subscribing to a false tax return.Freeman is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Audrey B. Collins on April 22.
Former SEIU union
local president convicted of embezzlement
January 28, 2013 |
5:13 pm
The former president of California’s largest union local was
found guilty by a federal jury in Los Angeles on Monday of stealing from the
low-wage workers he represented.
Tyrone Freeman, who led Local 6434 of the Service Employees
International Union, was convicted on 14 criminal counts, including
embezzlement of union funds, violating tax laws and mail fraud.
As president of SEIU Local 6434 -- the second-largest SEIU
chapter in the nation -- Freeman, 43, represented 160,000 low-wage healthcare
workers who cared for the elderly and people with disabilities. He also
represented 30,000 workers as president of the California United Homecare
Workers.
Prosecutors accused Freeman of billing the union for
“elaborate personal expenses,” including more than $8,000 in costs related to
his 2006 wedding in Honolulu, according to court documents.
Freeman ostensibly was marrying Pilar Planells, his
executive assistant at the union local. But at the time of the wedding, he was
still married to his first wife, according to a trial memorandum filed by the
prosecution earlier this month.
Planells pleaded guilty earlier this year to an income tax
charge in connection with more than $540,000 she received in consulting
payments from the union.
The charges against Freeman grew out of a series of Times
reports regarding Freeman’s financial dealings while leading SEIU Local 6434.
The Times reported that Freeman funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars of
members’ union dues and money from an affiliated charity to his relatives.
Freeman stepped down from his job in 2008, shortly after The
Times' report.
-- Hailey Branson-Potts
