Freddy Escobar was, like, standing on the sidewalk outside his old workplace with a green thumb drive and a bunch of papers, saying they would totally clear his name. The dude used to be the president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, but now he’s on suspension. He couldn’t even get into the office where he’s been working since 2018 because the parent organization changed all the locks and gate codes.
He was trying to deliver his evidence, which included receipts and photos, to prove that he didn’t mess up with his credit card purchases. But, like, no one answered the doorbell. Escobar was all like, “Wow,” and then he turned to the news cameras with his eyes closed for a sec. He was like, “The organization that I would’ve given my life for isn’t even giving me a chance to show them what they wanted.”
This whole dramatic scene went down on a Friday morning outside the union’s office in Historic Filipinotown. It happened four days after the International Association of Fire Fighters suspended Escobar and two other union officers for some shady money stuff. The IAFF even put UFLAC under conservatorship, which is, like, a big deal.
The IAFF General President spilled the beans in a letter to UFLAC members. Turns out, Escobar spent over $300,000 on his union credit card, but most of it had zero receipts. The auditors couldn’t figure out what most of the transactions were for. Two other UFLAC officials also had a ton of undocumented credit card purchases.
Escobar showed up at the union office to talk to the press at a news conference he set up to clear his name. He said he didn’t even know he was being audited and was never asked for his receipts. In the union’s policy, you gotta have receipts for all credit card spending. Escobar claimed he had everything the IAFF said was missing, but he didn’t add up the totals or know how much he was accounting for.
He had like 1,500 receipts, meeting minutes, and explanations for all his expenses. He said they were all uploaded into the union’s system. When asked why he was expensing Uber rides when he had a union car, he said they were for union business.
The auditors had flagged accounting issues before, but Escobar still made a bunch of transactions without receipts in 2024. He thought the auditors didn’t talk to him personally. He was all like, “What’s a warning, anyway?” He said they could always do better, but he had all his receipts, so, like, what’s the big deal?
Escobar wanted the IAFF to reinstate him as president and said he’d go back to work as an LAFD captain for now. The IAFF didn’t seem too happy with him, though. They said he was urged multiple times to submit proper documentation for his expenses, but he didn’t. The audit confirmed some serious problems with his record-keeping.
In a Times investigation last month, it was found that Escobar and other top union officers were making bank with overtime and union stipends. Escobar raked in over half a mil in 2022 by doubling his base salary with overtime and getting a sweet union stipend. He was putting in crazy hours at work, but he disputed his total earnings on Friday without any proof.
At the end of the day, Escobar was standing there with all his evidence, hoping to clear his name. But things weren’t looking too good for him. Not really sure why this matters, but that’s the scoop for now.
