The Executive Director of the state's largest labor union is resigning after charges from the Attorney General alleging that she and her husband committed tax fraud, embezzlement, perjury and failure to pay unemployment insurance taxes. The charges were filed October 4th in the Sacramento Superior Court against Alma Hernández and her husband Jose Moscosco, according to the Sacramento Bee exclusive investigation. Hernández has been in the position since 2016 and leads over 700,000 workers.
Investigations into Hernández began in 2019 when the campaign watchdog Fair Political Practices Commission followed up on allegations that a 2014 state senate campaign funded her husband for services he did not provide, leading the Attorney General's Office to look deeper into Moscosco. From there, Hernández was charged with two counts of grand theft and one count of perjury, for dishing out almost $12,000 from the senate campaign to Moscoso, who was supposed to provide food and drink to canvassers. Moscosco was charged for not paying $160,000 in employment taxes and had $300,000 in unreported wages for employees, ultimately owing the state's EDD over $80,000. The couple together was charged with multiple tax fraud violations for underreporting their income by $1.4 million between the years 2014 and 2018.
The interim executive director will be Tia Orr, current director of government relations. Bob Schoonover, executive director of SEIU Local 721 and president of SEIU California State Council, said this in a statement to the Sacramento Bee: "We are deeply concerned about the allegations against Alma Hernández. We have accepted Ms. Hernández’s resignation, and we have cooperated fully with authorities on this matter and will continue to do so. Any misuse of funds is unacceptable, and we are committed to doubling down on our efforts to ensure that all officers and staff adhere to the highest level of ethical and financial conduct.” The Bee reports the Hernández has not responded to them for comment.