Sacramento City Council member Sean Loloee’s attorney requested a court temporarily stop a civil lawsuit he is facing because of Fifth Amendment concerns.
In a Wednesday court filing, his attorney said the Department of Labor lawsuit against Loloee overlaps with a separate and ongoing grand jury investigation.
Because of the overlap between the lawsuit and investigation, the attorney argued the court should pause proceedings to protect Loloee’s Fifth Amendment rights, including the right against self-incrimination.
Loloee’s attorney Cassandra Ferrannini didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. Ferrannini also represents Karla Montoya, the general manager of several Viva Supermarket locations which Loloee owns.
“Continuing this civil litigation, which appears to be substantially related to an ongoing Grand Jury investigation, raises substantial Fifth Amendment concerns and deeply prejudices Defendants in both matters,” Ferrannini wrote in court documents. “Defendants would be subjected to depositions and written discovery in this lawsuit that would effectively force Defendants to show their hand, provide their defense, and testify early to the same or similar allegations that may be the subject of the Grand Jury Investigation.”
The Department of Labor sued Loloee, Montoya and the Viva Supermarket businesses in April 2022, alleging they failed to pay employees minimum wage, overtime rates and COVID-19 sick leave. The department also accused Loloee of interfering with the department’s investigation into the business, retaliating against employees and coercing employees to return back wages they received from a settlement.
The scope of the grand jury investigation is unclear, however. In another court filing Wednesday, Ferrannini referenced the search and seizure warrants federal officers used on Oct. 26 to raid Viva Supermarket businesses. Ferrannini wrote that the warrants underlay a grand jury investigation.
Alethea Smock, a Homeland Security Investigations spokesperson, did not directly respond to a question about whether the investigation tied to the raids is a grand jury investigation.
“Homeland Security Investigations, IRS Criminal Investigations, and the State of California, Department of Justice conducted a court authorized criminal law enforcement activity at several locations in the Sacramento area Oct. 26,” Smock said in an email on Monday. “This continues to be an ongoing investigation and we have no further information.”
The Department of Labor previously told CapRadio the grocery store raids were separate from the agency’s lawsuit against Loloee. Spokesperson Michael Petersen on Monday said the department had no additional comment, but referred CapRadio to a statement the DOL provided last month.
“The goals of the DOL’s case are to stop illegal labor practices that violate the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) and to recover back wages and other compensation owed to employees who worked for any Viva Supermarket store between April 2019 and the present and were not paid properly or were retaliated against,” the statement said in part. “Importantly, all workers are entitled to the same protections under the FLSA regardless of their immigration status.”
In addition to asking the court to pause proceedings on the labor lawsuit for 90 days, Loloee’s attorney also asked a judge to seal the search warrants used in the Oct. 26 raids. Ferrannini requested the warrants — as well as inventories of items seized through the warrants — not be accessible to the public during the grand jury investigation.
Since the raids last month, Loloee has faced calls to resign from his seat on City Council. The Sacramento Central Labor Council, which advocates for workers and represents 90 unions in the Sacramento region, is among those that have urged him to resign.
Loloee has said he doesn’t plan to run for reelection. His term is set to end in December 2024.
The primary election for his seat is scheduled for March 5. Five people have announced plans to run for the office representing District 2, which includes Old North Sacramento, Hagginwood, Woodlake and Del Paso Heights.
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