Posts tagged embezzle
Former Union President Ordered to Serve Probation and Pay Restitution for Embezzling Union Funds
May 3, 2023 // Crystal R. Mathis, the former president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1812, was sentenced to 12 months, suspended, and three years of probation for embezzling funds from the union. The sentence was announced today by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Mark Wheeler, Director of the Washington District Office of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards. Mathis, 51, of Cheverly, Maryland, pleaded guilty in February 2023, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to one count of first-degree theft. She was sentenced by the Honorable Errol R. Arthur, who also ordered her to pay more than $10,000 in restitution to the union and ordered three years of supervised release.
Louisville Ford Assembly Plant Employee Wins Refund in Case Charging UAW Union Officials and Ford with Illegally Seizing Dues Money
April 27, 2023 // A Ford Louisville Assembly plant employee has just prevailed in her federal cases against the United Automobile Workers (UAW) Local 862 union and her employer. Shiphrah Green charged union officials in October 2022 with illegally seizing dues money from her paycheck and threatening her job after she exercised her right to refrain from union membership. Green filed a similar charge against Ford for its role in the scheme. Green received free legal representation from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys, who asserted her rights before National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 9 in Cincinnati. In addition to the illegal dues deductions and threats, Green’s October 2022 charges also detailed that UAW and Ford officials had forced her to navigate several unnecessary and unlawful steps to end her financial support for the union. Foundation attorneys argued that the UAW union and Ford violated her rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which protects American private sector employees’ right to refrain from any or all union activities. Additionally, Kentucky is a Right to Work state, meaning that state law prohibits union officials and employers from requiring workers to join or pay union dues or fees to keep their jobs.
U.S. Supreme Court Dismisses GM’s Lawsuit Again Fiat Chrysler
April 24, 2023 // However, a federal judge in Michigan dismissed the lawsuit in 2020, ruling that FCA’s actions were not legally responsible for the alleged injuries suffered by GM. The 6th Court of Appeals of the United States Circuit based in Cincinnati agreed, stating that “even accepting GM’s theory as accurate, the chain of causality between FCA’s bribes and GM’s damage is still to FCA’s conduct had not legally caused GM’s alleged injuries he lower-grade court’s ruling is a blow to the automaker’s efforts to seek compensation from Stellantis. GM had demanded an estimated $6 billion in compensation from FCA. The decision is also a positive development for Stellantis, which has been embroiled in a separate federal investigation into corruption involving the UAW union. The research has resulted in at least 17 criminal convictions, including former FCA employees and two former UAW presidents, after FCA and UAW officials admitted that they had embezzled funds for their benefit.
Illinois union boss embezzled funds
April 24, 2023 // A former union president in Illinois admitted to transporting stolen money after being caught embezzling over $200,000 from Local 214 of the American Federation of State, City, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Byron Clemons, Sr. pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transportation of stolen money from the local union in Alton, Illinois, where he served as president from 2017 to 2022. Prosecutors found that Clemons embezzled $202,100 from the local union’s bank account between February 2021 and January 2022 to pay for gambling and personal expenses. U.S. government officials blasted Clemons’s embezzlement as a selfish misuse of membership dues.
Southeast Iowa man sentenced for embezzlement and theft of labor union assets
April 21, 2023 // According to court records, James Darin Boatman, 53, of New London, embezzled and stole union funds for his personal use. Boatman is the former president of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 617 Union. UFCW Local 617 members include production workers and skilled trade workers at the Conagra plant in Fort Madison. An investigation revealed Boatman, the president of the union from 2010 until 2019, set up a credit card in the union’s name, without authorization, and from at least May 2017 to August 2019 used the card for personal expenses, including vacations to Florida, large repairs on his personal vehicle, and to pay for attorney representation for an unrelated matter.
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.
The Largest Teachers Union Embezzlements of All Time
February 8, 2023 // Denise Inez Owens was the treasurer of the Worcester County Teachers Association when she stole more than $433,000 of state and national dues money to feed her gambling addiction. The Maryland State Education Association discovered the theft in March 2009, but did not report it to authorities. Instead the union persuaded Owens to sign a confession and agree to a restitution plan. Owens then resigned her union position and returned to work as a middle school teacher without notifying the school district or union members of her crime. A newspaper discovered the incident three years later when the state union filed an insurance claim for its losses, and stated the theft was “not reported because of potential impact on membership and loss of members.”
Ex-officer for Roanoke labor union gets six months in prison for embezzlement
February 2, 2023 // The former secretary-treasurer of a now defunct Roanoke labor union was sentenced to six months in prison Tuesday for embezzling nearly $40,000 from dues paid by his fellow workers. Albert Jennings Jr. took the money over five years from the Transportation Communications Union Lodge 6061, which represented about 20 freight car men employees of Norfolk Southern Corp. at the time the thefts were discovered.
Disgraced ex-NYPD union head Ed Mullins to plead guilty in federal case
January 19, 2023 // Mullins is accused of using union member dues to pay for hundreds of personal high-end meals as well as clothing, jewelry and home appliances, court records show. The feds alleged he even tapped SBA money to pay for a relative’s college education.
4 IBEW Local 98 workers plead guilty to federal charges in Philadelphia
December 23, 2022 // Four IBEW Local 98 employees have pleaded guilty to federal charges of using union assets for personal use. All four were indicted with union boss John Dougherty. Michael Neill, Marita Crawford, Niko Rodriguez, and Brian Fiocca faced various charges, including embezzlement and wire fraud.