Posts tagged Embezzlement
Sentencing for convicted ex-Boilermakers union leaders continued until December
September 2, 2026 // Court filings show the defendants requested that the sentencing date be pushed back, and Senior U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree granted the requests on Friday. That action also could affect the sentencing dates for several other former union employees who have pleaded guilty in the federal corruption and embezzlement case. A jury on June 5 convicted Jones, his wife and a retired union executive of racketeering conspiracy, embezzlement and other felonies, concluding a monthlong trial over the alleged theft of millions from the Kansas City-based International Brotherhood of Boilermakers.
Former Immigration Services Officer Charged With Defrauding Union
August 21, 2026 // A former Immigration Services Officer was charged and has agreed to plead guilty to stealing more than $60,000 from a labor union over the course of five years. Carol A. Aguja, 55, of Reading, Mass., was charged with wire fraud. A plea hearing has not yet been scheduled by the Court. According to court documents, Aguja was an Immigration Services Officer employed by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Between approximately 2015 and August 2024, Aguja also served as Treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 38 (AFGE Local 38), a labor organization that represented USCIS employees who lived in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.
Labor Union to Congress: Our Embezzlement Problems Got Bigger
June 30, 2026 // The Seafarers International Union told a House committee that the daughter of the union president allegedly embezzled from four union-linked political committees, double the number initially reported by NOTUS, according to a committee spokesperson. The acknowledgement comes after NOTUS reported that the union suspected Chelsea Diab — daughter of the union’s president — of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from two federal political committees the union controlled.
The Name Game: How Connecticut Teachers Union (AFT) Keeps Dues Spending in the Dark
June 29, 2026 // That reality helps explain why Congress passed the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA), Public Law 86-257. Enacted by a bipartisan Congress in the wake of well-publicized union corruption scandals, the law was designed to protect rank-and-file workers by requiring financial transparency and accountability from labor organizations. Its centerpiece was the Form LM-2, a detailed annual financial report that larger unions must file with the U.S. Department of Labor, disclosing assets, liabilities, salaries, receipts, expenditures, loans, political spending, and significant disbursements. Filing false information carries criminal penalties under federal law. The promise was straightforward: union members should always be able to see how their dues are spent.
Trump Gives Teamsters a Chance to Shed Oversight Meant to Curb Mob Ties
June 25, 2026 // Sean M. O’Brien, re-elected to a second term leading the union, has used a relationship with President Trump to end court-ordered corruption monitoring.
Opinion: UAW Constitutional Convention can protect direct democracy
June 17, 2026 // We also know what the delegate system got us: corruption and concessions. Throughout the final decade of delegate elections, members endured concessions that weakened our contracts and confidence in our union. At the same time, top officials were involved in a racketeering, bribery and embezzlement scandal that eventually landed them in prison. All the while, the delegate system continued to produce leaders from the same Administration Caucus.
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.
Kearney man among former union leaders convicted of embezzlement
June 9, 2026 // Prosecutors said the group used union money for no-show jobs, expensive trips, lavish meals, and other personal costs. They also said there were unearned payouts, and an unauthorized $7 million loan tied to a union-related bank.
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.
More transparency for the largest unions
May 31, 2026 // A new rule from the Labor Department will recalibrate the disclosure reports that labor unions are required to file. It’s a welcome update to ensure that union members know how their money is being spent. What will happen in the 2026 midterms? Sign up for Margin of Victory The reason unions have government-mandated disclosure requirements is that they are government-backed monopolies. Labor relations law gives unions exclusive power as the sole bargaining agent for the entire workplace.