Former CA labor leaders charged with wire fraud to buy luxury clothes and shoes
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- Federal prosecutors indicted Carlis and Herrera for $270K wire fraud scheme.
- Union leaders used AFSCME funds for designer goods and concealed purchases.
- Carlis faced internal suspension in 2022 for unauthorized gift card distribution.
Two former leaders of a public sector labor group appeared before a federal district court in Los Angeles on Thursday to face wire fraud charges that involved using union credit cards to purchase clothes and shoes from designer labels such as Jimmy Choo and Louis Vuitton.
In an April indictment federal prosecutors alleged that Shukimba Carlis and Sofia Herrera collectively embezzled $270,000 from AFSCME Local 2620 through a fraudulent scheme, which included suspending a trustee from the union who became suspicious of their activities.
The local, which is part of the national trade union American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, represents roughly 5,000 state employees who work in healthcare and social services.
According to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, both Carlis and Herrera pleaded not guilty to the charges and both were released on a $20,000 bond. A trial was scheduled to begin on July 28.
Carlis and Herrera allegedly used union-issued credit cards to make non-AFSCME-related purchases between March 2021 and September 2022. In an April indictment, federal prosecutors said the two women took various steps to conceal the fraud including having credit card statements sent to their personal addresses and adding a verbal password to prevent the union from auditing the purchases.
At one point, Carlis suspended a trustee, who was identified as “Y.C.” in the indictment, from AFSCME business after that individual requested financial records from the president and treasurer, prosecutors alleged.
In October 2022, Carlis was suspended from her role as president for retaliating against trustee Yok Choi.
The suspension followed internal charges against Carlis in July 2022 after she sent preloaded $25 debit cards to union members despite the board turning down her proposal to distribute the gift cards months earlier.
Some on AFSCME Local 2620’s board of directors accused Carlis of sending out the cards, which cost the union over $100,000, to advance her re-election campaign. The gift cards were sent with a note that read: “This gift is from President Shukimba Carlis in appreciation of all that you do.”
Carlis told The Bee at the time that she wanted to return a portion of members’ dues after she said money was recovered from accounts that had become dormant.
Dr. Aaron Cannon, the southern vice president for Local 2620, said the indictment was an issue for the courts and the union would “wait for it to play out.”
Carlis and Herrera were charged with six counts of wire fraud for making purchases of designer clothes and shoes. In March 2021, Carlis allegedly spent over $3,300 in Louis Vuitton accessories and Jimmy Choo shoes. Herrera was accused of using over $2,000 of the union’s money to purchase Tory Burch clothes and accessories.
Carlis and Herrera could not be reached for comment. Legal representation for the defendants was not posted on the cases online docket as of Friday afternoon.
Carlis began serving as the union’s president in October 2020, according to the indictment. Herrera started serving as the treasurer the following March.
This story was originally published June 6, 2025 at 4:05 PM.
