Nearly a year after the indictments of four people on charges stemming from an embezzlement scandal at the Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU), the case remains mired in pretrial arguments and allegations about the conduct of lawyers. The legal skirmishing is the latest twist in a case that has moved slowly since the discovery more than […]
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Ex-Investment Mgr. Accused of Stealing over $300K in Pensions in NY
An union investment manager accused of stealing $314,000 from a laborers union pension fund — by concealing commissions he made on stock and bond trades — will now face a federal jury four years after his indictment. Anthony DiPace’s embezzlement and wire-fraud trial begins Sept. 14 in Albany before U.S. Dist. Judge Thomas McAvoy (N.D., […]
Cleanup Continues at Miami Teachers Union
The temp. administrator of the United Teachers of Dade has agreed to sell its huge HQ to help pay off the millions in debt incurred on the union’s behalf by its convicted ex-chief, Pat Tornillo. Current director Mark Richard announced the sale of the bldg. to Millennium Developers earlier this month. Meanwhile, a panel of […]
Ex-Secy.-Treasurer Confesses to Embezzlement in Ohio Fed. Ct.
On May 17, in the U.S. Dist. Ct. for the North. Dist. of Ohio, Jeffery Henson, frmr. secy.-treasurer of Graphic Communications Workers Local 42-C, pled guilty to one count of embezzling $98,000 in union funds. The guilty plea follows an investigation by the Cleveland Dist. Ofc. of the U.S. Ofc. of Labor Mgmt. Standards. [OLMS, […]
Trial of Cap Consultants Exec & Union Pension Trustees Continues in Ore.
Federal prosecutors and lawyers for now-defunct Capital Consultants salesman Dean Kirkland began dueling in federal court on April 21. Leading the case against Kirkland, Ore. Asst. U.S. Attny Neil Evans presented evidence that in 1999, union pension trustees were uncomfortable with their funds being moved into the investment firm that eventually collapsed in 2000. Evans […]
Mass. Secy. of State Levies $50m Fine against Investment Firm
On April 8, Secy. of the Commonwealth William Galvin levied a $50 million fine on Putnam Investment in a settlement in which Putnam admitted to allowing some managers and certain fund participants to market time in its mutual funds. The administrative settlement also orders Putnam to pay $5 million in restitution to the affected funds. […]
Another Guilty Plea in UTU Bribery Case
On March 10, in the U.S. Dist. Ct. for the Sou. Dist. of Texas, John Rookard, a special asst. and project coordinator to Byron Boyd, president of the United Transportation Union, pled guilty to one count of labor racketeering conspiracy. Rookard and Boyd admitted to soliciting and collecting thousands of dollars in cash from attorneys […]
Ex-DC Union Chief Pleads Guilty, Refuses to Cooperate with Investigation
Ex-Wash. Tchrs. Union president Barbara Bullock confessed to stealing more than $2.5 million of the WTU members’ dues on Oct. 7 before U.S. Dist. Judge Richard J. Leon (D.C., G.W. Bush). However, the 66-yr.-old Bullock seems prepared to accept a 10-yr. prison sentence rather than provide information about two other frmr. WTU officials — frmr. […]
Extortion of Union Charges against Genovese Clan Thrown out
Sr. U.S. Dist. Judge Leo Glasser (E.D.N.Y., Reagan) has dismissed charges that the Genovese crime family committed extortion against the Intl. Longshoremen’s Assn. (ILA) by exercising control over its elected officials. Glasser issued his ruling in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Feb. 26 decision in Scheidler v. Natl. Org. of Women(NOW). The High Ct. […]
More Sentences Announced in Multi-Million Dollar Racketeering Scheme in NYC
The U.S. Ofc. of Labor-Mgmt. Standards announced the following sentences in the $6 million racketeering case against 26 bosses and members of the Intl Union of Elevator Constructors Local One. All seven were indicted on February 5, 2002 for conspiracy, false pension statements, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering, and unlawful labor payments following a joint […]