Ex-adviser for UPW
pleads guilty over fees

The former union adviser admits
his role in a pension fund

An investment adviser has admitted he illegally accepted $55,000 in fees relating to the United Public Workers union's investment in a Florida corporation.

Albert Anthony Hewitt, 50, of Orlando, Fla., who provided benefit plan services to the UPW, entered guilty pleas yesterday in U.S. District Court to two counts of receiving fees relating to the UPW's Mutual Aid Fund.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Florence Nakakuni, Hewitt knowingly solicited fees from Best Rescue Systems Inc. on six occasions for a $1.1 million investment by the UPW Mutual Aid Fund beginning in December 1998 and ending in November 1999. Best Rescue produces products to assist in rescues from multi-story buildings during emergency and disaster situations.

The fund, a voluntary contribution plan that provided hospitalization and other benefits for UPW members and dependents, is subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, which prohibits the taking of fees, commissions or kickbacks.

Hewitt was a paid investment adviser for the UPW under former State Director Gary Rodrigues from September 1994 until February 2000, and previously served as an adviser for the union's pension fund.

As a fiduciary, Hewitt was barred from dealing with the assets of the UPW Mutual Aid Fund for consideration from any party dealing with the fund, the November 2003 six-count indictment said.

Defense attorney Birney Bervar said Hewitt, believing Best Rescue to be a good investment, had invested a lot of money into it and suggested it to the UPW. Rodrigues also thought it was a good idea, Bervar said.

But the laws are very strict when it comes to pension funds, he said.

"You don't have to know that it's illegal and in this case, (Hewitt) didn't know it was an ERISA fund and didn't know his conduct was illegal," Bervar said.

While Hewitt pleaded guilty to accepting finders' fees on only two occasions, he has accepted responsibility for doing so on the other four occasions he was charged with in the indictment, Bervar said.

Under a plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop the remaining four counts in exchange for Hewitt's guilty pleas.

The UPW later sued Hewitt for fraud and Rodrigues for breach of fiduciary duties in connection with the investments made by Hewitt, said attorney Eric Seitz, who represents Rodrigues in the matter.

"They're going after Gary, saying Hewitt was his responsibility," said Seitz, calling the allegations absurd and the case "patently frivolous."

UPW's attorney could not be reached for comment.

Hewitt faces a maximum of three years in prison on each count when sentenced Jan. 23.