FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 2022 
Contact: [email protected]

NEW: More Revelations Surface On Herschel Walker’s Business Record

Associated Press: “Walker’s Chicken Firm Tied To Benefits From Unpaid Labor”

Atlanta, GA – Today, a new Associated Press investigative report raised questions about Herschel Walker’s business record, this time around the use of unpaid labor. The report reveals that Herschel Walker’s business employed what lawyers described as a residential “work camp” that profits from a “vulnerable workforce.”

The latest report adds to the long list of Walker’s false claims and questions about his record – including about his business record, his academic record, his involvement in law enforcement, and his involvement in for-profit programs that targeted veterans and service members. 

Read more here and below:

Associated Press: Walker’s chicken firm tied to benefits from unpaid labor

Bill Barrow — October 25, 2022

Key Points

• One instance at the heart of Walker’s business portfolio suggests he has benefited, through a firm he touts as a principal partner and supplier, from the unpaid labor of drug offenders routed from state courts to residential rehabilitation programs in lieu of prison.
  
  
• It’s not possible to quantify any financial gains Walker might have gleaned over the years from undervalued labor.
  
  
• But some lawyers have derided the operation in question, Oklahoma-based Christian Alcoholics & Addicts in Recovery Inc., as a residential “work camp” that profits from a “vulnerable workforce under the guise of providing alcohol and drug counseling and rehabilitation services.”
  
  
• A federal lawsuit, still pending against CAAIR and Simmons, has detailed how some participants were allegedly pressured to work when injured, compelled to attend religious services, and threatened with imprisonment if their work was unsatisfactory.
  
  
• “If you’re working full-time in a chicken facility, you don’t have enough hours in the day to complete a full program,” said Snider, explaining that “talking to professional counselors” and “being set up with real educational advancement opportunities and skills training” must be included. “There’s a lot more components than working 12 hours a day cleaning chickens,” she said.
  
  
• Nonetheless, a trial court judge in 2020 rejected participants’ assertions that the program violated federal labor law. CAAIR, the court ruled, remains a permissible component of the state criminal justice system. Participants’ appeal is pending.
  
  
• Neither Walker nor Renaissance Man Food Services was named as a defendant in the original suit, and Walker’s campaign declined to comment on the matter, saying Simmons is not Walker’s company. A Simmons representative did not respond to inquiries.
  
  
• Yet in Walker’s telling, Simmons is critical to his enterprise.
  
  
• On the Renaissance website, Simmons is the only supplier or partner mentioned by name: “RMFS joins with Simmons Foods to bring quality poultry, pork and bakery products to the retail and food service marketplace.”
  
  
• The website highlights one of its locations as Siloam Springs, Arkansas, where Simmons is based. The relationship dates back as early as 2006, according to Walker’s previous statements to media.
  
  
• Renaissance bills itself as a certified minority owned business — Walker is Black — that works with “supplier partners to meet the needs of our retail and food service customers.”
  
  
• That suggests a relationship in which Walker partners with food processing firms to act as distributor so that an end-line business is buying from a minority-owned firm. For example, Walker’s website denotes two “diversity supplier” awards from Marriott hotels.
  
  
• Walker isn’t always clear about the size and scope of Renaissance. He’s said he employs hundreds of workers, with frequent mentions of a chicken-processing division in Arkansas. Further, he’s claimed as much as $80 million in gross sales.
  
  
• But when Renaissance filed federal paperwork to secure loans under the Paycheck Protection Program during the coronavirus pandemic, it reported eight employees. The company received about $182,000 under the program.
  
  
• In another court case, Walker gave far more modest revenue figures, indicating the company averaged about $1.5 million a year in profit from 2008 to 2017.
  
  
• Walker’s exaggerations could simply involve conflating some of Simmons’ operations as his own.
  
  
• His 2022 financial disclosure form submitted to the Senate list Renaissance as paying Walker a $214,062.50 salary. Another business, H Walker Enterprises, brought Walker a $3 million payout as sole shareholder. The website of H Walker Enterprises suggests Renaissance is a subsidiary. State records list the same corporate address in Dublin, Georgia, for both.
  
  
• Throughout the litigation, Simmons and CAAIR have forcefully defended their practices. But one thing has never been up for dispute: The men CAAIR sent to the chicken plants were not paid.
  
  
• “CAAIR is a work-based program,” lawyers wrote in their defense. “Participants … are required to perform work without compensation at various nearby work-providers, including Simmons. This requirement is no secret.”
  
  
• In court filings, Wilkerson described drug defendants as “clients” rather than employees, and she characterized them as having chosen the program voluntarily after being fully apprised of the parameters.
  
  
• The agreement included a behavioral code, with the threat of dismissal.
  
  
• “Minor rules violations” included “failure to maintain a positive attitude,” “failure to do assigned chores,” “not shaving, showering and brushing your teeth every day,” “not being a team player” and “failure to attend … daily meetings,” including “Bible study … 12-step meetings … small group.”
  
  
• Among the major violations: “theft,” “bringing or using drugs or alcohol,” “insubordination,” “having money or credit cards on the premises,” “failure to maintain your position at your assigned work provider,” “horseplay or wrestling at any time,” and “fraternizing with any females.”
  
  
• Those lists, participants were warned, were “not comprehensive,” and that “other infractions” determined by staff “may also result in disciplinary procedures.”
  
  
• Further, participants agreed to attend church services off premises during their first 12 weeks in residence. That came with a separate code: “No sleeping in church. … Use the restroom before church services start. … Clients may not ride with family to/from church.”
  

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