The U.S. Department of Labor on June 29 filed a complaint against a pair of firms based in the south suburban Chicago community of Crete, Ill., alleging they had improperly charged fees to the pension and welfare plans of six union locals. Joseph/Anthony & Associates Inc., a plan administrator, and its president Michael Linder, were named in the suit. Also charged were Liz/Mar and Associates Inc. and its president, Elizabeth Linder, who also is Michael Linder’s wife. The government is seeking restitution of an unspecified amount.
This isn’t the first time that the male half of this aspiring power couple has been in trouble. In January 2004 Mr. Linder was indicted by a federal grand jury in Rockford, Ill. for mismanaging the pension plans of two Ironworkers Union locals. (Daily Southtown, 7/7).
Pittsburgh Ex-Secretary Sentenced for Embezzlement
Sonya Green, a former financial secretary for Local 3657 of the United Steelworkers of America, was sentenced on Monday, July 11 to three years of probation and five months of home detention. The Pittsburgh woman had embezzled nearly $40,000 from her union. For two years she used her position to falsify checks and transfer funds from the local’s bank account to her own personal bank account. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7/12).
Ex-Local President in Texas Issued an Arrest Warrant
On June 21, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued an arrest warrant for Cynthia Wright, former president of Local 1298 of the American Federation of Government Employees. A joint investigation by the Justice Department and the Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) in Dallas revealed that Wright had submitted fraudulent travel voucher claims to the Bureau of Prisons despite previous reimbursement by the union. (OLMS, 6/21).