Broderick Deceived Followers, Jurors Told

Despite renouncing her American citizenship and claiming she was immune from U.S. laws, Montana “Freemen” disciple M. Elizabeth Broderick carried a driver’s license and Social Security card--evidence that she did not believe her own anti-establishment rhetoric, a federal prosecutor said Friday.

Broderick, on trial with two co-defendants for allegedly masterminding an $800-million check-fraud scheme, not only cheated banks, creditors and the government with her debt-erasing-check scam but also deceived her devoted followers, Assistant U.S. Atty. Aaron Dyer said.

“She wasn’t even straight with them when she claimed to be a sovereign,” Dyer told jurors in his closing arguments at the conclusion of the complex, monthlong trial. “She’s not serious about this.”

Dyer said Broderick, 53, of Palmdale, told people who paid $125 to $200 to attend her seminars that she was empowered to issue homemade checks, which she called “comptroller’s warrants,” for the purpose of eliminating debts--an opportunity that her mostly blue-collar, working-class clients jumped at.

The checks were supposedly backed up by $1 billion in liens Broderick had lodged against the government.

Broderick hosted her check-writing seminars in the Antelope Valley, San Bernardino County and across Southern California from October 1995 to April, after she was schooled at a similar seminar by Montana Freemen leader Leroy Schweitzer, Dyer said.

But Broderick’s anti-government rhetoric and claims of sovereign immunity were merely a cover-up for the fact the seminars themselves were a scam, Dyer said.

“The evidence clearly establishes that she was knowingly running a fraud scheme,” Dyer told the jurors, adding that Broderick used false names and overseas accounts to conceal $358,000 in revenues from the seminars. “These are typical means of money laundering and concealing assets,” he said.

Broderick and co-defendants Barry Switzer of Canyon Country and Julian Cheney, a Reseda chiropractor, face 36 counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering for their alleged roles in the case. Prosecutors say Broderick and her accomplices netted $1.2 million from the alleged scheme.

Broderick, who is defending herself, contended in a rambling closing statement that federal courts have no jurisdiction over her.

“I ask you to release me from the chains of tyranny,” Broderick told the jurors. “My freedom of expression has been seriously curtailed. Let’s put on the front page of your favorite newspaper: ‘Broderick not guilty.’ ”

Calling herself a “political prisoner,” Broderick said she has been “persecuted for my beliefs.” She contended the U.S. government is “defunct” and “bankrupt,” and claimed the Internal Revenue Service is staffed by foreign agents working for the Federal Reserve Bank.

She also referred to a federal civil suit she filed Thursday against U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian (who is presiding over her trial), Dyer and other officials, claiming her civil rights have been violated and seeking $85 million in “gold U.S. dollars” from each defendant she names.

“I want redress, and if I can’t get it through the liens, then I’m going to get it this way,” she said, holding up a copy of her lawsuit.

During the trial, prosecutors said Broderick operated under the guise of the burgeoning “patriot movement”--whose followers contend the federal government holds no power over them once they renounce citizenship--in order to fleece clients eager to escape mounting debts.

At the seminars, clients were taught “debt-reduction techniques” and received one check made out to a creditor of their choice, purportedly drawn on the U.S. Treasury and bearing Broderick’s signature. Prosecutors said Broderick urged clients to use the checks to pay off mortgages, credit cards and other debts, and in some cases creditors actually deposited the checks because they appeared legitimate.

Attorneys for Switzer and Cheney, who allegedly helped Broderick run the seminars, told jurors that the men were pawns who committed no willful frauds, believing the alleged check-writing scheme was legitimate.

Jurors are expected to begin deliberations Monday, court officials said.