Posts tagged conspiracy
Former Honolulu Union Leader Headed To Prison For More Than 11 Years
July 24, 2023 // In a weeks-long trial last year, federal prosecutors detailed how the finances of Local 1260 nosedived after Ahakuelo took over as business manager and financial secretary. In 2010, the union had a surplus of approximately $700,000, Gillmor noted. Four years later, it had a deficit of some $760,000. Prosecutors said Ahakuelo hired family members at salaries exceeding what union rules allowed. His wife, sister-in-law, son and his children’s spouses were all on the union’s payroll. Their pay contributed to the union’s salary expenses jumping by 150%, the judge said. Ahakuelo was emboldened by an inexperienced executive board, handpicked by Ahakuelo himself, that literally and figuratively handed him signed blank checks to spend as he wished, Gillmor said. Ahakuelo was also able to make unilateral decisions on travel. On several occasions, he brought an unnecessary entourage of family members and other employees on trips with dubious connections to union needs.
Former Honolulu Union Leader’s Wife Headed To Prison For Fraud
March 30, 2023 // A Honolulu woman who was convicted alongside her husband for embezzling from a local union and helping to fraudulently increase membership dues was sentenced on Tuesday to nearly six years in prison. Marilyn Ahakuelo was found guilty in November of conspiracy, wire fraud, and embezzlement from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1260, a shop once headed by her husband, Brian Ahakuelo. She is scheduled to surrender to authorities on May 17. A jury found that as an employee of the union, Marilyn Ahakuelo conspired with her husband to falsify a dues increase vote in January 2015. She also used union funds to pay for travel that had little, if any, union purpose, including first-class flights. Marilyn was one of several of Brian Ahakuelo’s family members who were on the union’s payroll, and she earned over $100,000 a year for mainly clerical work.
PHILADELPHIA: Former City Councilmember Bobby Henon is facing sentencing for a bribery conviction. Here’s what you should know.
March 1, 2023 // A former electrician and the political director of the politically powerful union of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, he was elected to Council in 2011 backed by union money and support. While in office, Henon remained on Local 98′s payroll — at a salary of more than $70,000 per year — in addition to collecting his $140,000 paycheck from the city. At Dougherty’s urging, the jury found, Henon drafted and, in some cases, introduced legislation — aimed at punishing a towing company that had attempted to tow the union leader’s car and at supporting his bid to become head of the Building Trades Council, an umbrella group of the city’s labor unions. He granted Dougherty outsized influence during negotiations over the city’s 15-year franchise agreement with Comcast, a potentially lucrative deal for Local 98′s members. Henon was also convicted of a separate bribery scheme in which he extorted a $5,000 bribe in the form of a campaign contribution from the Communication Workers of America, when the union in 2015 needed his help in an ongoing dispute with Verizon. Among those pledging their support: former Gov. Ed Rendell, AFL-CIO President Pat Eiding, Local 98 spokesperson Frank Keel, former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery, City Commissioner Lisa Deeley, and City Councilmembers Mark Squilla and Michael Driscoll. Driscoll was elected to Henon’s Council seat in a special election following his conviction in 2021.
Former sports anchor, union official sentenced to probation for his role in corruption scandal
December 5, 2022 // Former KHNL sports anchor and union official Russell Yamanoha has been sentenced to two years of probation and was fined $5,000 for his role in a union corruption scandal. Yamanoha, the former assistant business manager for the IBEW Local 1260, was convicted in 2019 for helping rig union votes. Outside of court today, he apologized for the harms he caused. The union rigged the votes to increase membership dues to fund the lavish lifestyle of Yamanoha’s former boss Brian Ahakuelo. Critics said that given his news background, Yamanoha should have known better.
Fighting For Workers Or Fleecing Them? An Ousted Honolulu Union Boss Faces His Reckoning
October 13, 2022 // In court filings, prosecutors describe a brazen abuse of power by a union leader and a stunning display of greed by a man accused of using union funds as a piggy bank for himself and his family. The feds say the family charged numerous personal expenses to the union and, when funds started to dwindle, rigged a union vote to raise dues against the wishes of the members. Ahakuelo and his family members have pleaded not guilty, and he said they all plan to take the stand. “It’s not true,” Ahakuelo said of the criminal charges in an interview with Civil Beat last week. “Some of the stuff will be, maybe, morally incorrect … However, it’s not criminal.”
Dozens of auto workers say they were hurt by UAW, Chrysler corruption scandal
February 17, 2022 // Then, starting in 2017, they learned that behind the scenes, Chrysler and the UAW had been "engaging in a wide-ranging, long-lasting criminal bribery scheme aimed at saving Chrysler millions of dollars by having the union take company-friendly positions … and derailing the exact type of grievances and lawsuits that plaintiffs were attempting to bring," the lawsuit states.