Jackie Presser Indictment Scandal - Second Indictment

Second Indictment

On May 15, 1986, Jackie Presser was indicted a second time on fraud and embezzlement charges stemming from the Local 507 payroll-padding case. Presser's indictment came just three days before the opening of the Teamsters convention in Las Vegas, although the indictment was expected to have no effect on Presser's election chances. Also indicted was an FBI agent who was one of Presser's three "controllers." The agent was fired and indicted for making false statements that led DOJ officials to shutter the prosecutorial effort in June 1985. Presser pled innocent.

Just days later, the case against Presser took an unexpected twist as the federal judge assigned to Presser's trial was disqualified from the case. U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aldrich was removed from the case after Presser's attorneys accused her of bias. After a hearing which lasted only a few hours, Aldrich was removed from the case—a change which is exceedingly rare in U.S. courts. The trial was handed over to U.S. District Judge John Manos.

Presser's trial took another unexpected turn two weeks later when Judge Manos removed himself on June 17, 1986. A clerk for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals accidentally unsealed records showing that, in the 1950s, Judge Manos (then a local lawyer) had asked Presser to stir up labor trouble so Manos could obtain more clients. A third judge, U.S. District Judge George White, was assigned to oversee Presser's trial.

Pre-trial hearings dragged on through the remainder of 1986. The government sought to protect Presser's identity as an informant. Presser's attorneys not only sought to expose the relationship but uncover evidence that Presser's actions were sanctioned by the government and had helped lead to the prosecution of other criminals. On December 2, 1986, government officials finally testified in open court that Presser was indeed a valuable and high-level informant who had assisted DOJ in exposing other labor racketeers. The FBI, fearing for Presser's life, offered him protection under the federal witness program, but Presser refused.