MARITIME UNION (NMU)
Boss Pleads Guilty to $237,000 Kickback Scheme
According U.S. Attorney Donald K. Stern's statement, ex-Nat.
Maritime Union Employee Pension & Welfare Plan boss Nicholas
LaForgia pled guilty May 26 to receiving $237,000 in kickbacks -- including
airline tickets, electronic equipment, jewelry and liquor -- in exchange
for referring members to the Northeast Maritime Inst. in New Bedford Mass.
for training mandated by the U.S. Coast Guard. LaForgia was responsible
for where and when members receive training. According the statement,
LaForgia contacted the school and arranged for NMU members to attend classes
in 1996. LaForgia then demanded the school purchase items for him. In Nov.
1998, the school said it would stop purchasing the items, he then cancelled
previously scheduled classes and ceased sending members to the school.
He faces three years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and a restitution order.
In addition to the unions and organizations covered in this Union Corruption Update, readers can look forward to news and information on other corrupt and abusive unions in future editions.
All back issues of the Union Corruption Update can be viewed at NLPC's website (www.nlpc.org). Also available is a union-by-union and state-by-state index of all Union Corruption Update articles.
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Union Corruption Update is part of NLPC's Organized Labor Accountability Project which is investigating and exposing corruption and extremism in the Teamsters, LIUNA, AFL-CIO and many other union organizations. NLPC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit foundation promoting ethics and accountability in government through research, education and legal action.
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