Stephen E. Gardell

Washington Staffer Admits $15,600 Embezzlement

Submitted by Michael Nelson on Mon, 04/01/2002 - 01:00

Geri E. Abbe, ex-office secretary for Ass'n of Western Pulp & Paper Workers Local 5 in Camas, Wash., pled guilty Mar. 22 to one count of embezzling $15,690.80 in union funds. The U.S. Atty.'s Office in Tacoma brought the charges on Feb. 22. The case has been assigned to U.S. Dist. Judge Franklin D. Burgess (W.D. Wash., Clinton).

According to the plea agreement, between Feb. 1998 and June 2001, Abbe was Local 5's office secretary, and her duties included filling out payroll vouchers.  On 16 occasions she embezzled funds through bogus payroll  claims. For example, on Feb. 18, 1998, she submitted a payroll voucher in which sought pay for 70 hours of work during the one-week period ending on that date. However, in truth, she worked only 35 hours during that period. After securing an offical's signature, Abbe issued the fraudulent check to herself. She embezzled $14,245 via this scheme.

National Boss Ousted after Probe

Submitted by Michael Nelson on Mon, 11/12/2001 - 01:00

Kenneth T. Lyons, the president of the Nat'l Ass'n of Gov't Employees, was removed from office Nov. 5 and permanently barred from participating in union activities after a union hearing on charges that he attempted to obstruct a state ethics probe by falsifying union records. Lyons, who served as NAGE president for 40 years, denied any wrongdoing after being charged in July with altering and destroying union records relating to a dozen or so meals he had with James Hartnett, undersecretary of the Mass. Div. of Admin. & Fin. Lyons was also accused of trying to "involve other union officers in a scheme to thwart an investigation of Hartnett and of attempting to mislead state investigators."

Union Pension Funds Linked to Mafia Securities Fraud

Submitted by Michael Nelson on Mon, 06/19/2000 - 00:00

On June 15, federal authorities began arresting 120 defendants across the country in a far-reaching securities racket involving three unions and five La Cosa Nostra families: Bananno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Luchese.  The suit filed in U.S. Dist. Court in Manhattan included charges of racketeering, conspiracy, wire fraud, securities fraud, mail fraud, pension fund fraud, bribery, illegal kickbacks, money laundering, witness tampering, extortion, physical intimidation and the solicitation of murder. A year-long probe, Operation Uptick, uncovered the racket.

It included defrauding three N.Y.-based union pension funds: the Detectives' Endowment Ass'n (DEA), which serves NYPD detectives, Production Workers Local 400 and Int'l Union of Operating Engineers Local 137. Defendants allegedly used corrupt securities professionals to manage union pension funds and craft investments in a way that allowed for a secret diversion of money as kickbacks.

Syndicate content