Michael Martin was charged on April 2 with laundering over $480,000 embezzled from the Washington Teachers Union
According to the information, Martin and a “business partner” (identified earlier as Errol Alderman) formed a fictitious company, Expressions Unlimited, in July 1998. For the next four years, Bullock, Hemphill and Baxter manufactured invoices for Expressions, and wrote checks to Martin for $483,543. After depositing them into the sham company’s account, Martin gave back many of the funds to Bullock and Hemphill, who allegedly used the money to pay for personal purchases with the WTU’s credit card. On the WTU’s LM-2 financial disclosure form filed with the U.S. Dept. of Labor, the payments to Martin were categorized as “membership services,” “per capita tax,” and “printing” expenses.
Martin was charged with money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C., Sections 1956 and 57. He is the second person to be charged in the scandal, which appears to have cost Washington, D.C. teachers $5 million. [U.S.A.O. D.C. 4/2/03, Washington Post 4/3/03, WMAL 4/11/03]