The investigation claims that contracts between the county and Smith showed he agreed to pay his employees $35 per hour for violence-interruption services, but payroll documents showed most employees were being paid $20 per hour. From August to December 2021, Smith allegedly paid his employees approximately $150,000 less than he reported to Hennepin County.
Minnesota Acts Now then used more than $100,000 in savings to purchase a building in Brooklyn Park for company use. The charges claim that was not allowed under the county contracts.
Kushner said Smith was under the impression he could use the county contracts for his organization, and that’s what he was doing when he tried to purchase the building.
“It’s not what you expect from a wage-theft case where someone is greedy and they’re taking money from the workers,” Kushner said. “He paid what he felt was a fair wage, more than what people doing that work would normally be getting.”
The charges claim that in 2021, when Smith’s contract with Hennepin County was being amended, he argued he needed to pay his employees $40 per hour because of the risky work they were doing patrolling violent areas. At that time, documents allegedly show the only people being paid the $35 per hour already stipulated by the contract were Smith and his wife.
Investigators also allege Smith claimed the violence-interruption program was running out of cash because it didn’t calculate payroll tax into its budget.
