The federal prosecutors claimed that the money had been funneled by Rodrigues to companies owned by Sabatini over a five-year period for consulting work that was not done or was paid to her for “sham work.”

The defense attorneys opposed the request.

A federal jury deliberated for about a day and a half before concluding Nov. 19 that Rodrigues was guilty of all 100 criminal counts brought against him. In addition, the jury found Sabatini guilty of all 95 counts against her.

The two were found guilty of dozens of mail fraud and money laundering charges, while Rodrigues alone was found guilty of embezzling union assets and accepting kickbacks related to a union benefit plan.

Rodrigues and his daughter will be sentenced later.

After the guilty verdicts, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees International Union, UPW’s parent organization, suspended Rodrigues as statewide director of the 12,000-member union. Rodrigues, 61, stepped down from that position on Friday.

Prosecutors maintained during the trial that Rodrigues negotiated contracts with medical and dental insurance providers on behalf of UPW members.

Rodrigues also had the insurance providers set aside a small percentage of the premiums paid on behalf of the members to be routed back to the union so it could hire a consultant to evaluate the medical and dental plans, the prosecutors contended.

They claimed that Rodrigues never told anyone about the consulting fee arrangement and used the money first to repay a personal loan and then to steer hundreds of thousands of dollars to Sabatini’s companies.

The prosecutors’ position was that the evidence presented at trial is all that is needed to show the two should be made to forfeit the money. The evidence includes copies of the scores of checks that were sent from, or on behalf of, the insurance carriers to Sabatini’s companies, according to the prosecution.

But Doron Weinberg, Rodrigues’ lawyer, had maintained that the forfeiture claim groundless, saying there is no one specific checking or savings account that contains only the money paid to Sabatini as a union consultant. Unless the prosecution can show that specific amounts of money in bank accounts belonging to Rodrigues or Sabatini stemmed from the illegal acts they were charged with, the two cannot be made to forfeit that money, Weinberg has said.

But Nakakuni had argued that under a relatively new forfeiture law, the prosecution needed only show that money was obtained illegally, and to substantiate the amount, but did not have to show that the money that Rodrigues and Sabatini currently have in their various accounts is the very same money that resulted from the mail fraud and money laundering activities.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.