Former California union leader sentenced after pleading guilty to grand theft, tax fraud

The former leader of California’s largest labor union must serve 300 hours of community service after pleading guilty last month to felony counts of embezzlement and tax fraud in Sacramento County Superior Court.

The state Attorney General’s Office originally charged Alma Hernández, former executive director of SEIU California, and her husband Jose Moscoso with 13 counts of tax fraud, embezzlement, perjury and failure to pay unemployment insurance taxes.

Hernández was a defendant in eight of the counts and pleaded guilty to two of them: one count of grand theft and a second tax offense. Prosecutors dropped the other six charges.

In the grand theft count, Hernández pleaded guilty to paying $7,200 to Moscoso for services he allegedly did not provide to a Democratic candidate’s 2014 Senate campaign. Hernández at the time was the candidate’s secretary treasurer.

Hernández also pleaded guilty to under-reporting her husband’s and her joint income by over $666,000 on their 2018 California taxes. The charging documents asserted that the couple owes nearly $70,000 in back taxes to the state.

Moscoso is awaiting trial.

The Attorney General’s Office started investigating the couple in 2019 after receiving a tip from the Fair Political Practices Commission. The tip drew attention to an allegation that Hernández, as treasurer for the 2014 state senate campaign, directed spending to her husband for campaign services he did not provide. He was supposed to bring food and drink to 80 canvassers, but did not, according to the Attorney General’s complaint.

Hernández, whose former union represents over 700,000 workers across the state, resigned her position after the charges were filed in October 2021. She had served as executive director since 2016 and led SEIU’s push against recalling Gov. Gavin Newsom, with the organization donating more than $6 million to the campaign.

The union is a major player in the Capitol, pushing for policies such as the fast-food workers council that will likely face a referendum and full employment rights for gig workers, a law which is currently up for debate in court. SEIU represents a wide spectrum of workers from local government employees, state workers, in-home caregivers, lecturers, janitors and health and care professionals, among others.