Tyrone Freeman used to be the president of Local 6434 of the Service Employees Industrial Union (SEIU).
Then things started happening. The LAT did a series of reports on Freeman’s spending as head of the local. The federal Department of Labor, the FBI, and the IRS started investigating.
Last month, his wife, Pilar Planells, pleaded guilty to an income tax charge in connection with more than $540,000 she received in consulting payments from the union. She is expected to be sentenced to three years’ probation and must pay about $130,000 in back taxes, interest and penalties, according to court records.
And now Freeman has been indicted on 15 counts:
Freeman was indicted on federal charges of stealing from those workers to enrich himself — even billing the union for costs from his Hawaiian wedding. The 15-count indictment, which also contains allegations that he violated tax laws and gave false information to a mortgage lender, carries combined maximum prison sentences of more than 200 years.
Oddly enough, I see no mention of strippers. Freeman was apparently big on cigars and cognac.
Still pending in state court is a civil lawsuit the union filed against Freeman and Planells over more than $1.1 million they allegedly pilfered. The suit contends that the money financed Freeman’s lifestyle of $175 glasses of cognac, $250 bottles of wine and a $3,400 trip to the NFL Pro Bowl.
Yeah, Hawaii is nice and all. But, dude, the Pro Bowl? Seriously?
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 1st, 2012 at 10:22 am and is filed under California Über Alles, Clippings, Law, NFL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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