A former National Labor Relations Board employee who traded confidential records for $40,000 in bribes from a Westchester firm has been sentenced to two years of probation.
U.S. District Judge Philip M. Halpern also fined Anett Rodrigues $4,000 and ordered her to forfeit $40,000 to the government, May 27 in White Plains federal court.
Over a 36-year career with the NLRB, Rodrigues rose through the ranks of the regional office in New Jersey. She began as a receptionist, then advanced to docketing clerk, language interpreter, and ultimately to field examiner.
In 2016, she was singled out for an administrative excellence award. Numerous support letters to the judge praised her professionalism and work ethic. One former colleague called her the “heart and soul” of the office.
The NLRB enforces collective bargaining rights and mediates labor disputes. It collects charge sheets, where employees allege unfair labor practices, and petitions where employees seek to become part of a labor union or to decertify a union.
From 2017 to 2021, Rodrigues got access to more than 4,000 documents from other NLRB regions and disclosed them to a Westchester consulting firm for $40,000.
The consulting firm boasted that if offered the fastest way to obtain NLRB information, according to court records, for law firms that want to stay ahead of the pack in “the competitive world of labor relations.”
The consultant sold the records for about $220,000.
The consultant and its clients are not identified in the public court records.
Rodrigues was arrested in 2021 and accused of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, bribery, and conversion of government property. Last year, she pleaded guilty to the conversion charge, in a plea deal that included a possible prison sentence of up to 14 months.
Rodriques’ attorney, Benjamin Allee of Yankwitt LLP, White Plains, recommended probation, in a letter to the judge.
He emphasized her record of public service and “sheer grit and a relentless desire to be of help to others.”
He also argued that the documents were not actually confidential or non-public records. Most of the information could have been found quickly in a search of the NLRB website, or obtained by filing Freedom of Information Act requests.
Unlike other federal corruption cases, Allee said, no secret or confidential information was revealed.
Assistant prosecutor Jeffrey C. Coffman also recommended probation, in a letter to the judge, but he took issue with Allee’s depiction of the records.
Portions of the records have been confidential and non-public since 2015, he stated, and FOIA requests can take weeks to obtain and the confidential parts are still blocked out.
Also, federal regulations prohibit NLRB employees from disseminating non-public information “to further their own private interests,” Coffman stated. Rodrigues knew that accepting bribes to circumvent the FOIA process was wrong. “She did so in order to personally enrich herself.”
