Last Updated: 5:09 PM, April 19, 2012
He wasn’t just a political powerhouse.
Former Bronx state Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. apparently never took “a single sick day or vacation day” in a four-year period at the healthcare non-profit he is charged with looting, a witness testified today.
Instead, the clinic’s chief financial officer told jurors in Brooklyn federal court, Espada cashed out his massive allotment of sick and vacation time from 2004 until 2007 to reimburse Soundview Healthcare Network for “personal expenses” he racked up on its corporate credit card.
Espada received eight weeks of vacation and six weeks of sick time every year, and was allowed to bank it year-to-year, records show.
“Four consecutive years without a vacation day or sick day?” prosecutor Roger Burlingame asked incredulously at Espada’s embezzlement trial.
“According to the schedule, yes,” said Soundview CFO Philip Valdez.
Valdez’s caveat — “according to the schedule” — underscored evidence that has repeatedly showed Soundview’s books were a mess.
Valdez said there were “gross errors” in financial statements signed by Espada that were filed with the IRS. One failed to disclose the charity owned an Espada-controlled cleaning company, and another falsely stated that Soundview had no officers or key employees related to him.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bronx/espada_didn_miss_work_clinic_non_b2NdsTdQAWIQQrppvseWEL#ixzz1sXeqSRR4
Video by Rafael Martínez Alequín
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