Diop was convicted on charges to defraud and falsify business records. Lubin was convicted on charges to defraud and forgery. While Lubin only was accused of helping rig the ratification votes, Diop has been charged with stealing over $2 million from his local and using a penthouse apartment at DC37 headquarters as a personal residence, while billing the local for rent as a business expense. That trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 17. Reportedly, Diop's annual salary from just Local 1549 was $206,000.
During the two-week trial, several witnesses linked Diop and Lubin to the vote fraud. Mark Shaplo, who had been Lubin's top assistant, said that he and Lubin marked bogus ballots together in an elaborate secret operation. Shaplo, who has pled guilty to vote fraud and embezzlement, testified that they switched pens, alternately using their left and right hands, to avoid the appearance that the same person was marking all the ballots.
Lubin's attorney Pamela Hayes said that she would file a motion to overturn the jury verdict. Hayes said there were errors in the instructions to the jury and improper remarks in the prosecutor's summation.
"This is not an anti-labor prosecution. It's a pro-labor prosecution. The victims were the union members," said Manhattan Dist. Atty. Robert Morgenthau. He said "they show you can't rig elections and get away with it." [BNA 7/31/00, N.Y. Times, N.Y. Post 7/26/00]
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