The dad or mum group of the Los Angeles Fireplace Division’s labor union has doubled down on allegations that the union’s prime official did not correctly doc a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} in bank card transactions.
The Worldwide Assn. of Fireplace Fighters, which oversees the United Firefighters of Los Angeles Metropolis, suspended President Freddy Escobar and two different union officers final month over “critical issues” with lacking receipts recognized in a wide-ranging audit going again to 2018.
Auditors reexamined their findings after Escobar confirmed as much as UFLAC headquarters final month — information cameras in tow — with a thumb drive and stacks of photocopied receipts that he claimed would clear him.
In a letter final week reviewed by The Instances, the IAFF’s auditors concluded that even with the brand new supplies, Escobar did not correctly doc greater than $212,000 price of bank card bills. They mentioned they weren’t offered full entry to UFLAC’s inside expense system for his or her first report and mentioned Escobar engaged in a “flurry of exercise” to reconcile the transactions in current months. Within the months after auditors left UFLAC’s workplaces in December 2024, Escobar directed his employees by e mail to search for lacking receipts, based on the letter.
“Escobar — with the help of UFLAC employees — labored feverishly to reconcile a few of his previous bank card expenditures,” IAFF Common President Edward Kelly and Common Secretary Treasurer Frank Líma mentioned in a notice this week to the native union’s members.
Of the 1,974 Escobar bank card transactions auditors lately reviewed, totaling $312,985, solely 889, or $100,824 price, had been totally documented with receipts and a enterprise objective, the auditors’ letter mentioned.
The preliminary audit reviewed 1,957 of these transactions, which amounted to $311,498, and located that solely 428, or $45,635, had been correctly documented.
“Our conclusions set forth in our Could 1, 2025 audit report stay the identical,” the auditors wrote within the letter. “It seems that Escobar repeatedly did not comply together with his fiduciary duties and obligations, and correct controls weren’t in place for compliance with state and federal legal guidelines and rules and UFLAC insurance policies on expense reimbursements and expenditure of UFLAC funds on account of lack of receipts and documentation of enterprise objective.”
Escobar mentioned in a textual content message that the allegations in opposition to him had been political as a result of he had complained that the LAFD was underfunded and didn’t have ample sources.
The preliminary audit had additionally discovered that two different UFLAC officers — former Secretary Adam Walker and former Treasurer Domingo Albarran Jr. — collectively made greater than $530,000 in bank card transactions with no receipts or partial documentation.
Auditors didn’t reexamine these findings within the new report.
Underneath UFLAC coverage, receipts are required for all bank card expenditures, together with an evidence of the expense, together with the names of these current and the enterprise purpose.
Vice Presidents Chuong Ho and Doug Coates additionally had been suspended and accused of breaching their fiduciary duties in “failing to implement UFLAC coverage.”
After the audit, the IAFF appointed a conservator, John Bagala, to take over the union and “restore accountable monetary stewardship and assure the success of UFLAC’s official goals.”
Bagala is a state consultant for the IAFF and president of Marin Skilled Firefighters, IAFF Native 1775, which represents firefighters in Marin County.
In an announcement Thursday, IAFF spokesperson Ryan Heffernan mentioned the conservatorship is targeted on implementing safeguards to forestall future monetary mismanagement.
“Throughout this non permanent conservatorship, the IAFF stays targeted on assembly members’ essential wants and defending their hard-earned dues cash,” he mentioned.
