Washington Blade - April 11, 2003
Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Federal prosecutors charged Michael W. Martin, 43, a HAA operations director who resigned from his post last month, with conspiracy to launder $483,543 in union funds through a "fictitious" company he created and managed.

Prosecutors provided details of their allegations against Martin in an eight-page criminal information statement filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

"It was the goal of the conspiracy for defendant Michael Martin and his co-conspirators to enrich themselves by stealing millions of dollars from WTU members," the statement says.

A criminal information statement is filed before a defendant is arrested and booked, and can only be issued with the consent of the defendant. A defendant's willingness to accept an information statement often occurs after the defendant agrees to cooperate with prosecutors under a plea bargain agreement.

Channing Phillips, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's office, declined to comment when asked if Martin has agreed to a plea bargain offer. Martin is scheduled to appear in court on April 11 for an arraignment.

The information statement says Martin operated the phony company, called Expressions Unlimited, with a business partner who "aided and abetted" Martin in the money laundering conspiracy.

The FBI identified the business partner in separate court papers as Errol Alderman, who currently works at HAA as a data management information specialist. HAA documents show that Alderman receives an annual salary of $54,246.

HAA records show that Martin was paid $62,572 a year.

D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams earlier this year directed the city's Inspector General to conduct a financial review of HAA after Williams learned that Martin and Alderman were embroiled in the teacher's union scandal.

"They are both principles in a firm that received WTU money illegally, according to investigators," Tony Bullock, the mayor's press secretary, said at the time Williams ordered the financial review. "The mayor is concerned that people may have questions about what is going on at HAA, so he is adding this higher level of scrutiny."

A spokesperson for Inspector General Charles Maddox said Maddox was waiting for the city auditor's office to complete a preliminary review of HAA before Maddox begins his review.

$5 million allegedly embezzled

Martin's main co-conspirators, according to the criminal information statement, include former WTU President Barbara Bullock and the WTU's former assistant to the president and legislative representative, Gwendolyn Hemphill, who is Martin's mother-in-law.

Barbara Bullock is not related to mayoral press secretary Tony Bullock.

An FBI affidavit filed in court in January, and a subsequent WTU audit conducted by the American Federation of Teachers, allege that Barbara Bullock and Hemphill embezzled at least $5 million in WTU funds. The two resigned from their union jobs earlier this year; they have yet to be charged.

The information statement says Martin created a fictitious company called Expressions Unlimited for the purpose of laundering WTU funds at the direction of Barbara Bullock and Hemphill. It says Martin's actions included efforts to conceal the embezzlement of union funds "by making it appear that expenditures of WTU funds for personal purposes had been reimbursed by [the] WTU president."

Investigators have said in court papers that Expressions Unlimited did not provide any legitimate services for the WTU.

According to the criminal information statement, Martin did provide services for Bullock, but those services were for her personal use and benefit. Among other things, the document says, Martin "would and did transport WTU president [Bullock] to engage in spending sprees using WTU funds and credit cards, and would and did make orders of clothing, art, and other items for WTU president's personal use, that were obtained unlawfully by using union funds."

The statement says that under the conspiracy, Martin kept some of the union funds deposited in his Expressions Unlimited bank account, which he used to "pay for a variety of personal expenses, including his home mortgage, credit card bills, car notes, vehicle maintenance, and home improvement projects."

"It was further a part of the conspiracy," the statement says, "that the conspirators caused WTU to pay for personal trips for defendant Michael Martin and lavish parties unrelated to WTU business, held at defendant Michael Martin's personal residence."

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Lou Chibbaro Jr. can be reached at lchibbaro@washblade.com.

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