TEAMSTERS (IBT)
RICO Suit Against Carey, Not Trumka
IBT and its boss James P. Hoffa filed a civil racketeering suit Apr.
17 seeking about $9 million in damages against ex-boss Ron
Carey and others, but not AFL-CIO
secretary-treasurer Richard L. Trumka, for allegedly defrauding IBT
of funds used to promote Carey's reelection in 1996. The suit, filed in
U.S. Dist. Ct. in Manhattan, charges the defendants with an illegal scheme
to defraud the IBT by making bogus IBT contributions to liberal groups,
which, in turn, made reciprocal contributions to Carey's campaign.
In addition to Carey, the current defendants are: 1) William W. Hamilton, ex-IBT political director (convicted), 2-4) Carey campaign consultants Martin Davis, Jere Nash, and Michael Ansara (all pled guilty); 5) Ansara's wife, Barbara Arnold; 6) liberal fundraiser Charles Blitz (pled guilty); 7) Cohen, Weiss and Simon law firm and 8) its ex-associate Nathaniel Charny (pled guilty); 9) liberal advocacy group Citizen Action and two of Citizen Action officers, 10) Ira Arlook and 11) Rochelle Davis.
Trumka's absence is troubling. He allegedly routed $150,000 from IBT through AFL-CIO to Citizen Action to the Carey campaign. Trumka has invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid federal probes. IBT is hopeful that U.S. Atty. Mary Jo White will indict Trumka soon. But, IBT spokesman Bret Caldwell said the union had no comment on "why or why not Trumka was not named" adding "this is the right group to name based on the roles they played in the scheme." On Feb. 8, 2000, IBT received $500,000 from the AFL-CIO for a strike fund.
The suit, which has been anticipated since Jan. 1999, seeks to recover $885,000 lost as the result of the money-swap scheme plus $2.2 million the IBT spent for the rerun election. IBT seeks triple damages allowed under RICO: $9 million.
Ask about the RICO charges, Hamilton said "being called a racketeer
by James Hoffa is like being called ugly by a frog." [BNA 4/19/00]
Union Corruption Update is made possible by the generous contributions from readers like you. NLPC, P.O. Box 6273, McLean, VA 22106-6273. Thank you.
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.
If you have story ideas or suggestions for future editions of Union Corruption Update, please email NLPC at nlpc@nlpc.org. Thank you.
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.
Union Corruption Update Article Index (by Union)
Union Corruption Update Article Index (by State)
Organized Labor Accountability Project