FBI INFORMANT TESTIFIES IN CHECK-FRAUD CASE.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

Self-declared ``lien queen'' Elizabeth Broderick continued to issue worthless checks knowing they were fraudulent, an FBI informant told a federal jury Thursday in Los Angeles.

David Hernandez, who used to work for the Palmdale woman, said her group of followers had received warnings from the government and complaints from people who bought the ``checks,'' that banks were not honoring them.

``They were saying these are fraudulent documents, so it was known,'' Hernandez testified under questioning from assistant U.S. attorney Aaron Dyer. It was the second day on the stand for the government witness.

Hernandez, a Palmdale resident, testified the FBI paid him $3,000 for information and copies of documents he obtained while working for the group, which put on seminars at a Lancaster hotel.

Broderick, Barry Switzer and Julian Cheney are accused of issuing $800 million in bogus checks to seminar attendees and making more than $1 million in profits in a scam inspired by the teachings of the Montana Freemen, an anti-government group. They face 36 counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.

Broderick, who is acting as her own attorney, contended in her opening statement Wednesday that U.S. currency is ``a joke'' and that her checks were valid because they are drawn on money the government owes her. She filed more than $1 billion in liens against the government, which she claims entitled her to issue the checks.

At one point, Hernandez testified, Broderick gave some thought to halting the issuance of checks. But, he said, she was afraid people would stop attending her seminars if she did.

In a conversation he recalled, Broderick asked: ``Do you think I should stop issuing the warrants?'' He said she added: ``I think if I stop issuing the warrants people will stop coming to the seminars.''

Attorneys for Switzer and Cheney say the two men were unwitting victims of the scam, not its perpetrators.

The government claims Switzer and Cheney filed liens against the government and helped those who came to the seminars file liens against their creditors, in an attempt to intimidate them.