Former Local 98 leader John Dougherty is on trial again, this time for embezzling from his union. Here’s what you need to know.
For the second time in two years, former labor leader John J. Dougherty is set to appear before a federal jury in Philadelphia. Here's what you need to know about the embezzlement charges he's facing.
For the second time in two years, former labor leader John J. Dougherty is set to appear before a federal jury in Philadelphia, this time on charges that he and others embezzled more than $600,000 from Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the politically powerful union he once led.
Both Dougherty and Brian Burrows — the former Local 98 president and Dougherty’s codefendant — face substantial prison time if convicted. But the trial, expected to last weeks, also may recast Dougherty’s legacy during his 30 years as a one-man center of gravity of organized labor, politics, and Philadelphia civic life.
» READ MORE: Live coverage of jury selection the Johnny Doc trial
Dougherty has repeatedly defended his actions, saying everything he did was to benefit his members, but prosecutors contend that he was stealing from them all along.
Who is Johnny Doc?
Dougherty, 63 and widely known as “Johnny Doc,” served as business manager of Local 98 for nearly three decades and led the Philadelphia Building Trades Union until he was forced to resign from both positions after his 2021 conviction on federal bribery charges.
During his time at the helm, Dougherty, a Pennsport native, transformed his 5,000-member union into a political heavyweight and the largest independent source of campaign cash in the commonwealth. That fund-raising and union support helped elect Philadelphia mayors — including Jim Kenney — as well as City Council members, county commissioners, members of Congress, state legislators, governors, and more than 60 judges, including Dougherty’s brother, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty.
After federal prosecutors charged Dougherty and several other union officials in 2019 with bribery, embezzlement, and corruption in a sweeping 116-count indictment, many in Local 98′s rank-and-file remained loyal to their beleaguered leader, with union supporters regularly appearing outside the courthouse during his 2021 trial.
But since the conviction, the relationship between Dougherty and Local 98 appears to have soured. In the spring, amid an acrimonious election for new Local 98 leadership, union leaders spurned Dougherty, calling to “put an end to the toxicity that has poisoned this union for far too long.” The union cut off his cell phone and email access, and Dougherty successfully took Local 98 to court over how much the union’s insurance policies should cover of his mounting legal expenses.
Who is Brian Burrows?
Burrows, 63, of Mount Laurel, was president of Local 98 from 2008 until earlier this year following demands for his resignation amid the union leadership election. He’s also the only other defendant out of the five union leaders and members charged alongside Dougherty with embezzling to take his case to trial.
Burrows once co-owned with Dougherty Doc’s Union Pub (now the Mifflin Tavern) in South Philadelphia, where they are accused of paying for thousands of dollars in renovations out of Local 98′s coffers.
In filings, Burrows’ lawyers have aimed to distance him from Dougherty, requesting that the judge sever his case, citing negative publicity and the possibility that jurors would view the union leader’s role in Philadelphia politics as “inherently corrupt.”
What are the charges?
The government has accused Dougherty and Burrows of embezzling more than $650,000 from Local 98 and its political action committee.
Dougherty faces 78 counts of conspiracy, embezzlement, wire fraud, filing false tax returns, and accepting unlawful payments to a labor union official — the most serious of which is punishable by as much as 20 years in prison. Burrows is charged with 24 counts of embezzlement and filing false tax returns and is facing a five-year maximum sentence on his most serious charge.
How did they allegedly spend the money?
Prosecutors say Dougherty and the others spent thousands of dollars in union funds on restaurant dinners, groceries, trips, home renovations, and concert tickets.
As the indictment put it, they used Local 98 as if it were a “personal bank account,” drawing on its funds for more than $8,000 in mundane daily expenses at such stores as Target, where they are accused of spending on everything from dog food and Lucky Charms cereal to nail polish and boxer shorts. Those expenses were often submitted for reimbursement from the union as expenses on office supplies or charitable donations such as an annual “Toys and Turkeys” event.
More than $6,000 also allegedly went in 2015 toward sending then-Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams’ daughters on summer camp trips abroad. Prosecutors say Dougherty hoped that would buy Williams’ endorsement for Dougherty’s brother, Kevin, who was running at the time for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
And $5,000 — most allegedly taken from the union’s job recovery fund — went to pay for a family member of Dougherty’s to play in a basketball tournament in Costa Rica.
Prosecutors say thousands of dollars in tickets for concerts by Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and Bruce Springsteen were also charged to Local 98′s accounts and distributed to relatives of Dougherty and other union officials.
And according to the government, union funds were also used to cover extensive renovations at Dougherty’s and Burrows’ homes, as well as those of their friends and family.
What does the defense say?
Dougherty’s defense has contended that the embezzlement charges are overbroad and has sought to limit what the government can use in an attempt to prove them. Dougherty’s lawyers have also unsuccessfully sought to throw out the case, saying the FBI’s investigation was tainted by a confidential informant who secretly recorded Dougherty before and during his 2021 trial.
Burrows’ lawyer has argued that his client’s right to a speedy trial has been violated by a nearly five-year delay since the indictment, driven, in part, by the coronavirus pandemic, scrutiny over an FBI informant, questions of conflict involving Dougherty’s previous lawyer, and multiple overhauls to the union leader’s legal team.
Who else is involved?
Several of Dougherty’s codefendants have already pleaded guilty, including former Local 98 political director Marita Crawford; Michael Neill, the ex-head of the union’s apprentice training program and a co-owner of Doc’s Union Pub; and two of Dougherty’s onetime assistants, Niko Rodriguez and Brian Fiocca.
According to the indictment, Rodriguez and Fiocca belonged to a group of so-called kids who “regularly performed personal errands and chores” for Dougherty. Both were charged in part with using union credit cards to make personal purchases for Dougherty.
None of the deals they struck with prosecutors require them to cooperate or testify at the coming trial, their lawyers said.
» READ MORE: The guilty pleas keep coming in Johnny Doc’s embezzlement case as two more Local 98 members cut deals
Anthony Massa, a union contractor who performed thousands of dollars of work on the homes of Dougherty, his allies and his relatives, also pleaded guilty in 2020 to charges including conspiracy, theft, and embezzlement of assets.
They are expected to be sentenced following the trial.
What will jurors hear at trial?
As at the previous trial, the government is expected to rely heavily on hundreds of recordings obtained when the FBI wiretapped Dougherty in 2015 and 2016. And this case, in particular, is likely to feature scores of financial records, receipts, and expense reports from Local 98 and the various stores at which Dougherty, Burrows, and others are accused of spending the money they allegedly stole. Prosecutors are also likely to present the documents they say show that the men submitted false records to be reimbursed by their union.
It’s unclear whether Dougherty or Burrows plans to testify. Dougherty, following the advice of his then-lawyer, opted not to take the witness stand during his first trial.
What happens if they are convicted?
Dougherty and Burrows have already resigned from their positions with the union, and if convicted, both face substantial prison time.
Dougherty also awaits sentencing on his bribery conviction, which could send him to prison for as long as 20 years.
The trial in that case, involving then-City Councilmember Bobby Henon, was held in October 2021. Henon was sentenced to 3½ years in prison in February, and is currently serving that time.
Separately, Dougherty also faces another trial next year on extortion charges related to threats he allegedly made to a union contractor who tried to fire his nephew.
» READ MORE: A juror in the Dougherty-Henon trial says it was a lesson in Philly government — ‘and it was appalling’
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Schmehl plans to set a sentencing date for the former labor leader once all of those trials are completed.