Pension director says travel paid

Reimbursed by 4 law firms

The executive director of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System has disclosed that four law firms reimbursed him for more than $42,000 of his travel expenses during the past four years for meetings on class-action lawsuits.

System Executive Director George Hopkins disclosed these payments in amendments filed last week to his Statements of Financial Interest for 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Hopkins filed these amendments after state Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, suggested that Hopkins might consider amending his Statement of Financial Interest for 2017 because that report didn’t reflect the travel reimbursements, according to records requested by two legislative committees looking into the lawsuits.

Hopkins, who is an attorney, said he didn’t report the reimbursement because of guidance from the system’s former internal auditor, George Snyder.

“The guidance at that time was that reimbursements required by a governmental contract, rather than an honorarium or voluntary payment, were not required to be disclosed. I have consistently followed that guidance,” said Hopkins, who started as executive director in December 2008. He is a former Democratic state senator from Malvern.

“I do not know whether the travel in question should

paid immediately.

Floyd Orrell, an agent for the Office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, testified at a hearing in Little Rock last summer that the callers urged their victims to immediately go to a bank, often while the caller remained on the line, and wire cash to an IRS official in another state.

The “IRS official” in the other state was actually one of several runners, like Carrillo, who would be dispatched to pick up the cash, usually from Walmart-2-Walmart Money Transfer stations, Orrell said. He said that service was preferred because it only required a recipient to supply a name and address to pick up the money, and the money could be obtained at any Wal-Mart location in the designated state. Orrell said MoneyGram was also used, but recipients were required to show identification there and fill out receipts.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hunter Bridges told U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson at Carrillo’s plea hearing Wednesday that officials were able to obtain numerous photographs and videos showing Carrillo picking up the cash.

Bridges said Carrillo and two other people he traveled with would then send the proceeds to Yosvany Padilla, 27, in Florida, in the form of bulk cash drops or by depositing the funds in bank accounts associated with Padilla. Orrell described Padilla as “the main leader of this particular group.”

In January, Padilla pleaded guilty to a charge of wirefraud conspiracy — the same charge to which Carrillo pleaded guilty Wednesday. Padilla’s sentencing was set for April but has been postponed. Carrillo’s sentencing is set for 10:30 a.m. Oct. 23.

Padilla admitted being involved in the Arkansas-based conspiracy between March 2015 and May 2016. He said he coordinated, produced and distributed false identification documents for other co-conspirators.

Two other defendants in the Arkansas case — Dennis Delgado Caballero, 39, of Miami and Jeniffer Valerino Nunez, 21, of Cuba — have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing before Wilson. The others are awaiting trial, except for one person who remains at large.

Carrillo was living in Hialeah, Fla., when he was arrested in 2017. Orrell said Carrillo was able to travel easily across the country by plane and automobile, using his various false identities.

The wire-fraud conspiracy charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Federal sentencing guidelines, which suggest penalty ranges within the statutory maximum, won’t suggest a particular sentence range for Carrillo until a pre-sentence investigation is complete. However, Bridges and defense attorney Richard Mays Jr. stipulated in Carrillo’s plea agreement that he will face several sentencing enhancements because the loss totaled more than $1.5 million, the crime resulted in substantial financial hardship to 25 or more victims and Carrillo carried out his crime by acting like he was representing a government agency.

He will receive credit for pleading guilty, but the enhancements far outweigh the credit.