Broderick Pleads Not Guilty on Money Laundering Charges

A Palmdale tax resister, who claims she is beyond the jurisdiction of the federal government, struggled with U.S. marshals on Monday as a federal judge entered a not guilty plea on her behalf to money laundering charges, authorities said.

Prosecutors allege that M. Elizabeth Broderick raked in $1.5 million from a phony check scheme she learned from the “freemen,” who have been in an armed standoff with FBI agents in Montana. Broderick was indicted and arrested in late April on mail fraud charges on suspicion of writing $800 million in allegedly bogus checks.

A federal judge last month entered a not guilty plea for Broderick over her objections.

But last week, the U.S. attorney’s office added money laundering charges, alleging that Broderick and an accomplice used phony nonprofit organizations to hide the money brought in by the check-writing seminars she taught. Broderick’s alleged accomplice, Adolph Hoch of Moreno Valley, pleaded not guilty to the new charges Monday, Assistant U.S. Atty. Aaron Dyer said.

But Broderick, who is acting as her own attorney, refused to use a microphone to explain her reluctance to enter a plea, and the marshals had to physically lead her forward, Dyer said. U.S. District Court Judge Dickran Tevrizian then entered the not guilty plea for Broderick.

Trial is scheduled to begin June 18 but may be delayed by the new charges. Broderick also faces state charges for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme in Orange County.