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NEWS & EVENTS
Settlement: Teachers union settles with disgraced
ex-chief
September 30, 2005
By: Jessica M. Walker
Disgraced former teachers union boss Pat Tornillo
has reached a settlement with the United Teachers of
Dade, agreeing to turn over two life insurance policies
worth about $1 million in compensation for dues he
embezzled.
The settlement, announced on Thursday, leaves the
accounting firms that handled the union’s finances — Grant
Thornton and Cummings Grayson & Co. — and
two union financial executives as defendants in a 2004
lawsuit brought by the UTD.
Union attorney Loren Cohen, a partner at Mitrani Rynor & Adamsky
in Miami, said after Tornillo’s criminal trial
that there were few assets left to pursue.
“A lot of the issues were in terms of the allocation
of resources,” Cohen said in an interview. “If
you look at [U.S. District Judge Adalberto] Jordan’s
order, a lot of the liquid assets [Tornillo] had are
gone. We thought of trying to resolve the issues with
them and then move on to the accountants.”
Tornillo’s attorney, Michael J. Rosen of Miami,
did not return a call for comment before deadline.
Tornillo pleaded guilty to federal fraud and tax evasion
charges in 2003. Prosecutors said Tornillo used union
money for an Asian cruise, a beachfront Caribbean villa,
an African safari and other extravagances. He is estimated
to have defrauded the union of about $2.5 million,
according to an internal audit conducted for the union
by its parent, the American Federation of Teachers.
At the age of 78 and in poor health, Tornillo was
sent to prison to serve a 27-month sentence. He was
incarcerated in February 2004 and was also ordered
to repay the union $800,000, which he has now paid,
according to a statement.
His misconduct created a financial hardship for the
union, which had to sell its Biscayne Boulevard headquarters
for $22 million to help pay off union debts Tornillo
had also accumulated.
In 2004, the union filed a suit in Miami-Dade Circuit
Court in a bid to recoup more funds from Tornillo and
from the UTD’s accountants.
In addition to naming Tornillo and his wife in the
civil complaint, the union also named the accounting
firms and the union’s former chief financial
officer, James Angleton Jr., and financial consultant
David Albaum.
The suit alleged that Tornillo’s scheme worked
because of the negligence and mismanagement of the
union’s accountants.
Now that Tornillo has settled, Cohen will turn his
full attention to the accountants.
“What I’m going to do is change the complaint
to eliminate counts against the Tornillos, then ask
to take depositions against accounting witnesses,” Cohen
said.
Jessica M. Walker can be reached at jmwalker@alm.com
or at (305) 347-6649.
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