Top LAFD union officers suspended after audit flags $800,000 in credit card spending

The president and two other top officers of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s labor union were suspended from their posts Monday after an investigation by the union’s parent organization found $800,000 in credit card purchases that were not properly accounted for.

The International Assn. of Fire Fighters, which oversees the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City and other local firefighter unions across the country, suspended President Freddy Escobar and the two others over diverse financial improprieties, including “serious problems” with missing receipts, according to a letter by IAFF General President Edward Kelly to UFLAC members.

The IAFF appointed a conservator to take over the labor union to “restore responsible financial stewardship and guarantee the fulfillment of UFLAC’s legitimate objectives,” Kelly wrote.

“The leadership of UFLAC has abdicated its fiduciary responsibilities and placed Local 112 in ill repute. The financial malpractice by the leadership of UFLAC has dealt serious harm to the membership,” Kelly added.

The dramatic move came after a wide-ranging audit of UFLAC’s finances revealed different kinds of financial improprieties.

The audit found that from July 2018 through November 2024, Escobar initiated 1,957 transactions on his UFLAC credit card, totaling $311,497.58, the letter said. More than 70% of those transactions — amounting to $230,466 — have no supporting documentation.

“The auditors could not ascertain the purpose of these transactions,” Kelly wrote in the letter. He added that an additional 157 transactions — amounting to $35,397 — were only partially supported with required documentation.

“This means there is no way to determine whether $265,862.34 in dues money spent by President Escobar without documentation was for legitimate union expenditures,” the letter said.

Escobar did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The audit found that two others — former Secretary Adam Walker and former treasurer Domingo Albarran Jr. — together had more than $530,000 in credit card transactions with either no receipts or that were only partially documented. Walker did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Albarran declined to comment.

Vice Presidents Chuong Ho and Doug Coates were also suspended and accused of breaching their fiduciary duties in “failing to enforce UFLAC policy.” Neither immediately responded to a request for comment.

“Protecting the dues money that members contribute to their Local union is one of the highest priorities for all Local union officers,” Kelly wrote. “In fact, Local union officers have a legal responsibility, called a fiduciary duty, to ensure that your dues are spent in your best interests and in a manner you can track. This is so you know exactly how your dues money is being spent.”

The investigation began last October when the new treasurer of the union, Jason Powell, raised concerns to the IAFF about alleged improper record-keeping and use of union funds.

The Times first reported on the audit, along with the suspension of Walker, who had been accused of improperly depositing more than $75,000 of funds from the union’s charity for injured firefighters into his personal accounts from December 2022 to January 2024.

Walker previously told The Times that the allegations are false. He said the account he drew from was not for the charity, the UFLAC Fire Foundation, but was set up for two golf tournaments to raise money for a disabled former firefighter. All of the deposits were reimbursements for his legitimate out-of-pocket expenses for the tournaments, Walker said.

The IAFF investigation, however, found that immediately after moving large sums of money out of the charity’s account into his personal accounts, Walker paid his mortgage and RV loan payments, and made cash ATM withdrawals at casinos, the letter said.

The announcement also comes on the heels of a Times investigation that found Escobar and other top union officers for years have been padding their paychecks with overtime while also collecting five- to six-figure union stipends.

Escobar made about $540,000 in 2022, the most recent year for which records of both his city and union earnings are available. He more than doubled his base salary of $184,034 with overtime payouts that year, earning a total of more than $424,500 from the city in pay and benefits, payroll data show.

He collected an additional $115,962 stipend from the union, according to its most recent federal tax filing. He reported working 48 hours a week on union and related duties, while records provided by the city for that year show he picked up an average of roughly 30 hours of overtime a week — a total of about 78 hours of work each week.