Massachusetts
Jury: Company retaliated against immigrant
BOSTON (AP) — A federal jury has awarded $650,000 in damages to a Massachusetts construction worker who said his employer retaliated against him after he was injured on the job by sparking an immigration investigation that led to his arrest.
The jury on Tuesday ordered Tara Construction to pay $50,000 in compensatory damages for emotional distress and the company and its owner to pay a total of $600,000 in punitive damages to José Martin Paz Flores, who is referred to as Paz in court documents.
The U.S. Department of Labor sued on behalf of Paz in March 2019, alleging the company and owner Pedro Pirez retaliated against him in violation of federal law.
Even though Paz was allegedly in the U.S. illegally, federal labor law prohibits retaliation against employees for exercising their workplace rights, regardless of immigration status, the agency said.
Paz, a drywall taper, broke his leg when he fell off a ladder in March 2017, according to court records.
Pirez contacted Boston police, who with the help of federal immigration officials, initiated an investigation into Paz. About two months after the injury, Pirez asked Paz to come to his office to pick up some money, where he was arrested, according to court records.
Pirez was concerned because there was some confusion over Paz’s name and didn’t envision the arrest, his lawyer said Wednesday, noting that his client is also a Latino immigrant who “cares deeply for people in Mr. Paz’s situation.”
“He needed to know Paz’s real name because the hospital was pressing for information, and he never foresaw what would ensue,” Daniel Dwyer said in a statement. “Later, ICE discovered information on its own that led to its decision to arrest.”
Pirez feels he was “misjudged” by the jury and is considering an appeal, Dwyer said.
New York
Giuliani associate seeks to avoid prison at June sentencing
NEW YORK (AP) — An associate of Rudy Giuliani who was convicted of campaign finance crimes at trial and later pleaded guilty to a separate fraud charge is asking that he be spared from prison at his sentencing next week, but prosecutors on Wednesday recommended that he be ordered to spend over six years in prison.
Lawyers for Lev Parnas made the request to a Manhattan federal judge in papers that were filed publicly Wednesday. The papers were dated June 15 but were kept sealed for a week while redactions were agreed to.
Prosecutors filed their own sentencing arguments Wednesday, saying Parnas should serve at least 6 1/2 years in prison for “pumping foreign money” into U.S. elections, making straw donations with other peoples’ money, lying to the Federal Election Commission and defrauding investors of over $2 million to fund his lavish lifestyle.
For years, prosecutors argued, Parnas has “lied and swindled and corrupted for his own benefit.” They said he had “put himself above this country, his investors and the public.”
Parnas, 50, faces sentencing June 29 after he was convicted in October at a Manhattan trial of six charges alleging he made illegal donations in 2018 to jump-start a new energy company and used the wealth of a Russian financier to donate to politicians who might aid the launch of a legal recreational-marijuana business.
In March, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud, saying that between 2012 and 2019 he conspired with another person to give investors false information about a Florida-based business, Fraud Guarantee.
Fraud Guarantee was promoted as a company that could protect investors against fraud.
In their presentencing submission, lawyers for the Soviet-born businessman argued that their client deserves leniency in part because he cooperated with Congress, calling it “timely and material.”
Prosecutors, though, said information Parnas provided Congress was in response to a subpoena and “falls far short” of the extraordinary conduct and cooperation that can earn individuals leniency at sentencing.
Defense lawyers said his efforts to cooperate with federal prosecutors were not successful because they used information he offered in a bid for a plea deal mainly to “thwart his potential trial testimony, rather than to consider his attempt to provide substantial assistance in good faith.”
But prosecutors countered that the information Parnas offered them “was not fully credible and in material respects was plainly contradicted by the evidence.” Thus, they said, they had “serious concerns about Parnas’s credibility and candor.”
Defense lawyers recommended a sentence of time served — roughly 12 days.
Parnas several years ago worked with Giuliani to try to get Ukrainian officials to investigate the son of President Joe Biden, who was a candidate at the time. Giuliani has said he knew nothing about the crimes of Parnas and others.
Giuliani — a former New York City mayor who served as Donald Trump’s personal lawyer during part of his presidency — has not been criminally charged, though federal authorities have acknowledged he is being investigated to determine whether he violated a federal law that governs lobbying on behalf of foreign countries or entities.
New York
Teacher denies he made Black students pick seeds from cotton
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — A white school teacher in Rochester accused of telling his class of mostly Black students to pick seeds out of cotton during a history lesson said in a lawsuit that allegations against him are false.
Patrick Rausch said in a lawsuit filed Friday that he brought a bag of unprocessed cotton into a seventh grade social studies classroom in April to demonstrate how difficult it was to pick cotton seeds out by hand. But he said he made it clear that he was not requiring any students to touch the cotton and remove the seeds. It was voluntary, according to the lawsuit.
Rausch claims two parents of students in the class soon after began a social media campaign against him by posting false statements, including an allegation that he forced Black students to handle the cotton while white students could return to their laptops. The lawsuit said it’s also untrue that he made a student put on handcuffs and that he referred to himself as “Massah.”
The lawsuit names the two parents, the not-for-profit social justice group Save Rochester Inc. and the executive director, Michael Johnson. The lawsuit said Save Rochester hosted a meeting at which “false allegations against Rausch continued to be made.”
In a prepared statement, Johnson said, “while I have been advised to issue no comment at this time, my heart certainly aches for the children impacted by what they perceive to be flagrant acts of racism and hateful manipulation.”
Rausch had been placed on administrative leave.
