Student government officer Rustom Z. Birdie signed a contract guaranteeing him 1,000 shares of stock in the website Jobbook.com which were to be automatically transferred to him by the end of January.
In February, Birdie told the Daily Bruin that his contract allows him to choose whether or not to take these shares at the end of his term as financial supports commissioner with the Undergraduate Students Association Council.
This contradiction came to light at the first Judicial Board hearing investigating Birdie’s relationship with Jobbook, held Tuesday in Kerckhoff Hall. The board will decide if Birdie used his position in USAC to promote Jobbook in return for personal profit, said Chief Justice Nikhil Sharma.
This would constitute a conflict of interest.
Judicial Board investigations proceed with a series of public hearings where the person under investigation can call witnesses, and the board can cross-examine these witnesses and bring in new ones. The board hopes to finish Birdie’s investigation by Friday and plans to provide a ruling and make an official recommendation to USAC on Monday.
During the hearing Tuesday, the board cross-examined Birdie’s first witness, Jobbook founder Jean de Brabant. Speaking over the phone, de Brabant said he was contractually obligated to release 1,000 shares of stock to Birdie, regardless of the amount of work Birdie had done to promote Jobbook.
In February, Birdie told The Bruin he had discussed receiving additional shares of stock for recruiting students to sign up for the site, much like a commission. However, Birdie said this was not in the contract and was merely up for discussion.
In contrast to these remarks, the Judicial Board found that Birdie’s contract promised him one share for every member recruited and two shares for every member recruited within 10 days of Jobbook’s launch. Birdie did not receive these shares because the site did not officially launch.
During his opening statement, Birdie said he had not received any benefits, financial or otherwise, from Jobbook.
In an interview with The Bruin on Wednesday, Birdie acknowledged that he was wrong in February when he said the 1,000 shares would transfer to him at the end of his term in May. He said he was also wrong about not being contracted to receive additional shares for recruiting members to the site.
After signing his contract with Jobbook on Nov. 6, Birdie said he misplaced it. When he talked to The Bruin in February, he did not remember the details of the contract, Birdie said.
But Birdie said he still believes he was never obligated to accept shares in Jobbook, even if de Brabant was required to give him these shares.
De Brabant told the board he did not know Birdie was a student government official at UCLA, though he said prior to their meeting he had met with several heads of student government at other universities.
On Nov. 5, de Brabant met with UC Berkeley Student Body President Noah Stern to discuss his potential involvement with Jobbook. Stern referred de Brabant to Birdie, and the two met and signed a contract on Nov. 6. When asked if he knew that Noah Stern was student body president of UC Berkeley, de Brabant said, “of course.”
As the board cross-examined him during the hearing, de Brabant also said that the contract named Birdie as a founding partner of Jobbook. He explained that the significance of being called a founding partner was merely that Birdie had “been with me from the beginning” regarding the Jobbook venture.
De Brabant cut the cross-examination with the board short, saying he had to end the phone call.
Birdie’s next witness, Anthony Beightol, is his roommate and the chief of staff for his office. Beightol, a third-year sociology student, said Birdie only mentioned his relationship with Jobbook in passing.
Beightol said that, to his knowledge, the only promotion Birdie did for the company was creating a Facebook event with his personal account.
Beightol and de Brabant will both be called back for further questioning by the Judicial Board in later hearings.
Two more public hearings are scheduled for 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday in Kerckhoff 417.