IRON WORKERS (IAIW)
Accounting Firm's Contract with Union Allegedly Depended on Its
Willingness to Cover Up Corruption
The similarities between the Enron-Authur
Andersen scandal and the Iron Workers-Thomas Havey scandal continue
to grow. The Dep't of Labor has released new information about the June
4 guilty plea of Alfred S. Garappolo, a partner
in the union accounting firm of Thomas Havey LLP, to two felony counts
arising from a growing criminal probe into the Int'l Ass'n of Iron Workers
and its related funds. First, he confessed to being an accessory after
the fact to embezzlement from an employee benefit plan in violation of
18 U.S.C. § 3. He pled guilty to assisting Kerry
J. Tresselt, a bookkeeper and daughter of ex-IAIW vice-president Raymond
J. Robertson, in order to hinder or prevent her apprehension, trial,
and punishment for her embezzlement from the union training fund. Tresselt
pled guilty in Nov. 2001 to embezzling $350,000.
Second and more importantly, Garappolo admitted to concealing and covering up a material fact in a matter within DOL's jurisdiction in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001. Here is the new and shocking information. Garappolo admitted to knowingly and willfully concealing and failing to disclose to DOL agents statements made at a Sept. 1992 meeting by IAIW's ex-general counsel Victor Van Bourg to IAIW's ex-president and current president emeritus Jacob "Jake” West. Allegedly, Van Bourg told West that the Havey firm should be replaced if Havey accountants did not assist the scheme to underreport and conceal the true nature and amount of the union's disbursements for its officers on the union's annual financial report (LM-2) filed with DOL.
Further, the plea agreement documents charge that after the meeting, Havey accountants aided and assisted in the preparation of union reports that concealed the true amount of union disbursements for IAIW bosses West, LeRoy Worley, and James E. Cole. West and Worley ex-IAIW general secretary, are awaiting trial on assorted union corruption charges. West has also been linked to the Ullico, Inc., insider trading scandal.
Cole, also an ex-IAIW general secretary, pled guilty in June 2001 to embezzling more than $10,000. He allegedly used union funds for a Scotland vacation, a high school reunion trip, and anniversary flowers for his wife. Also, Cole allegedly arranged for BSORIW to pay for country club memberships that he and his wife often used for personal use. In total, nine individuals have been indicted and seven have pled guilty in the IAIW scandal to date. [DOL 6/4/02]
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