Posts tagged Teamsters Joint Council 25
A former Illinois State Senator convicted in corruption scheme gets a new job — state lobbyist
May 10, 2023 // State records show Stragetia’s state government clients in the current legislative session are the city of Oakbrook Terrace, the village of Itasca, Americans for Fair Energy Prices, the Justice Grown cannabis dispensaries and SoundThinking — the recently rebranded company behind gunshot-detection software used by the Chicago Police Department. But in 2019, Cullerton was charged in a 41-count federal embezzlement and conspiracy indictment related to an alleged scam where he received payments from a Chicago labor union for little to no work. Cullerton was accused of receiving more than $274,000 in payments and benefits from Teamsters Joint Council 25 for being a purported union organizer. The indictment alleged Cullerton routinely did not show up for work with the union after he landed the lucrative gig from former Teamsters Joint Council 25 President John Coli Sr., who pleaded guilty to federal extortion and tax fraud charges in 2019.
Judge sentences former Illinois state lawmaker Thomas Cullerton to a year in prison for embezzlement
June 22, 2022 // Prosecutors said that within weeks of being sworn in as a state senator, Cullerton was added to the payroll of the Teamsters union as an organizer. As a union organizer, Cullerton was expected to work 40 hours a week to attract new members, support union picket lines and attend union events. During his three years with the union, Cullerton collected $248,828 in payments and benefits. "Indeed, he was a ghost payroller who invariably did little to nothing over this three-year period," prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo. "The defendant’s immediate supervisors tried to get Cullerton to work, but he was, in the words of one supervisor, 'never available.' ... So rare was the defendant present for work that the union did not even bother to keep track of his use of vacation time – because he was effectively on a permanent vacation." Brett Rowland, Judge Robert Gettleman, John Lausch Jr., Amarjeet Bhachu, Erika Csicsila,
Former Illinois state Sen. Tom Cullerton pleads guilty to 1 count of embezzlement
March 15, 2022 // The indictment also alleged that Cullerton “repeatedly failed to respond to efforts by his supervisors at Teamsters Joint Council 25 to contact him and routinely ignored their requests that he perform the job functions of an organizer, as was required of other organizers employed by Teamsters Joint Council 25.”