Posts tagged corruption
NC couple, execs stole $20M from union for ritzy trips, meals & salaries, jury finds
June 10, 2026 // Nearly $2 million more in salaries and benefits were paid to others for jobs that did not require them to work, including $1.8 million paid to Kateryna Jones, documents show. She got some of the money while she was dating Newton Jones and still living in Ukraine, they said. The Chapel Hill couple also enjoyed date night meals that totaled over $160,000 and charged shopping trips and other personal expenses to the union, prosecutors said. Over $5 million was spent on “unnecessary and lavish international travel,” including executive meetings held “for no apparent purpose in extravagant hotels” in Paris, Rome and other cities.
Jury deliberations underway in KCK in Boilermakers monthlong racketeering trial
June 3, 2026 // The defendants are charged with using union funds for salaries and benefits for no-show jobs, luxury international travel, fine dining, vacation payouts and unauthorized loans. On trial are former International President Newton Jones, 72, and his wife, Kateryna, 33, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina; former International Secretary-Treasurer William Creeden, 78, of Kearney, Missouri; and former International Vice President Lawrence McManamon, 78, of Rocky River, Ohio. The four defendants are among seven former union members indicted in August 2024 for conspiracy to commit offenses under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, as well as embezzlement, health care fraud, wire fraud and other felonies.
JD Vance Courts Sean O’Brien and the Teamsters
June 1, 2026 // Mr. O’Brien is desperate for a win in Washington to sell to his 1.3 million members as he runs for re-election. Some Republicans in Congress seem eager to give him one—maybe two—as they seek to burnish their bona fides as defenders of the working class. These Republicans are doing more to help Democrats—the primary beneficiaries of Teamster campaign donations—than workers. The Teamsters’ membership has shrunk by nearly half since the 1970s amid a broader decline in organized labor. Technology has improved productivity. At the same time, jobs have migrated to states with right-to-work laws, which prohibit unions and employers from making union membership a condition of employment. The Teamsters have also lost rank-and-file support. Between 2016 and 2025, members filed 373 petitions to decertify the Teamsters, according to Reason magazine. Some 60% of the decertification elections succeeded. You can’t blame union members for wearying of paying dues that bankroll Democratic candidates and lavish lifestyles of union leaders. In the 2023-24 election cycle, 92% of Teamsters PAC donations to federal candidates went to Democrats, as did 91% of the union’s contributions to party committees.
Whistleblower Bombshell Shakes Midtown Hotel Union As Owners Quietly Dig In
May 26, 2026 // New York hotel owners have quietly launched internal reviews after a whistleblower alleged corruption inside the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, the powerful union that represents thousands of hospitality workers across the city. The allegations surfaced this month and have hotel bosses rethinking negotiations and communications at a particularly sensitive time for the industry.
Leadership of Norfolk teachers’ union ousted, president accused of misappropriating funds
May 26, 2026 // The documents outlined “the clearest example where Mackey and the executive board failed to exercise their fiduciary obligation to the membership” as a clothing allowance that was raised to $3,000 and stipends for hourly work despite holding a salary position. NFT officers had not been elected in a democratic manner, the decision and order read. Half the union’s executive board had been appointed. Its members, in a meeting, nominated one another for office. Hernández-Mats said only 16 of 1,100 dues-paying members participated in that union election. Many of these ranking members, she said, enabled the spending outlined in the report. Union budgets during that period, the documents read, included unreliable figures and displayed a lack of transparency.
Johnny Doc took the stand and asked a federal judge to release him from prison early to care for his ailing wife
May 20, 2026 // Dougherty, 65, was sentenced in 2024 to six years in prison after being convicted in separate trials — the first in 2021, after a jury found that he had spent years bribing former Philadelphia City Councilmember Bobby Henon, the second in 2023 over nearly $600,000 he and others embezzled from the union. The former leader of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Dougherty was known as a gregarious and chatty political player, with influence from City Hall to Harrisburg. And some of those traits were evident during Monday’s hearing, including the fact that one of the spectators in a crowded gallery was his brother, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty. John Dougherty’s testimony was also reminiscent of the freewheeling style he displayed before he was incarcerated. He delivered long anecdotes about his wife’s condition, which dates back to 1999, and described ways in which he sought to care for her, including by living with her at rehabilitation facilities for years before his federal indictment.
Commentary: Josh Hawley’s Pro-Union Bill Would Let Washington Write Your Contract
May 16, 2026 // A Hawley-backed bill, known as the Faster Labor Contracts Act (FLCA), seems to be picking up steam and may soon pass the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, the FLCA is a trifecta of bad public policy: It suffers from constitutional infirmities, revives a corrupt government agency, and takes away the voice of both businesses and workers. Earlier this Congress, Hawley introduced the FLCA in the Senate, alongside one other Republican senator and three Democratic senators; he has since picked up another Republican and 10 more Democrats. Companion legislation in the House has 99 cosponsors, 17 of which are Republican.
Racketeering trial starts for former KC-based union leaders accused of $20M theft
May 4, 2026 // “What makes this trial so significant is that it is not only about the individuals who were indicted,” he said. “It is also about the system and the culture that allowed this to ever happen. “Newton Jones and what federal prosecutors have described as the ‘Jones Enterprise’ would not have been able to allegedly racketeer, embezzle, or misuse union resources if the people sworn to uphold their constitutional duties had taken that oath seriously.” The Boilermakers deserve better, Sulivan said. “This trial should be a turning point, not just for accountability for the past, but for rebuilding and restructuring our organization for the future,” he said.
DC police lieutenant celebrated as first gay union boss accused of soliciting underage boy
April 21, 2026 // A veteran Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer and former head of a D.C. police union has been arrested in what authorities described as a "disturbing" child exploitation case, MPD told Fox News Digital. Lt. Matthew Mahl, 47, who previously made history as the first openly gay chairman of the police union, allegedly exchanged text messages with an undercover Maryland detective posing as a 15-year-old boy, according to charging documents.
Text Messages Deleted. Allegations Fabricated. How Deep Does the UAW Mess Go?
April 15, 2026 // Still, the ongoing oversight program continues to cast a long shadow. The consent decree mandates at least six years of federal monitoring, meaning millions more in costs are likely before the process concludes. Additional expenses tied to internal compliance measures and external legal support could push the total even higher. The timing is critical. The UAW is preparing for its upcoming constitutional convention and leadership elections, both of which are expected to be shaped by the findings of the monitor and the broader push for reform.