GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
Florida Firm Helps in Probe of Boss
U.S. Dist. Judge William Dimitrouleas fined a Port Everglades, Fla.-based
marine firm $60,000 on Sept. 22 for making illegal payments to union boss
Walter "Buster" Browne in 1995. The fine, recommended
by prosecutors as part of a plea agreement in June, was equal to the amount
the company, Hvide Marine Corp, admitted to paying Brown. Dimitrouleas
handed down the sentence after investigators completed a background check
of the firm's records.
Hvide executives also agreed to cooperate with federal investigators who are targeting Browne, the politically connected president of the Nat'l Fed'n of Public & Private Employees. Browne was a paid consultant for Hvide on government issues from 1993-98. Prosecutors tried and failed to convict him for tax-evasion and mail-fraud charges in the 1990s, but he did plead guilty in 1996 to charges stemming from a rigged union election. On previous occasions Browne has said publicly that he expects a federal indictment. [Sun-Sent. (Ft. Lauderdale) 9/24/00]
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