National Legal and Policy Center -- Organized Labor Accountability Project
 
UNION CORRUPTION UPDATE
 
July 22, 2002 -- Vol. 5, Issue 15


For Influential Leaders & Important Decision Makers:
Information on America's most corrupt & aggressive unions

GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
Ex Puerto Rican Adminr. Arraigned for Embezzling Funds from Govt Union
Abdiel Navarro, frmr administrator of the Union General de Trabajadores (UGT), was arrested, arraigned and pled not guilty on July 1 to eight counts of embezzlement and falsifying records. His bond was set at $50,000 in the U.S. Dist. Ct. for Puerto Rico. He was indicted on June 26 after an investigation by the Atlanta office of the U.S. Dept. of Labor's Office of Labor-Mgmt. Standards.

Navarro worked for UGT from April 1994 to December 1999, first as Ofc. Administrator, then as Union Administrator. During that time, according to the indictment, Navarro stole $35,700 from the UGT's Benefit Plan, General Fund and credit cards. His alleged embezzlement took the following forms: $2,520 in unentitled vacation days from the Benefit Plan, $6,815 from the Benefit Plan in claimed withholdings from his paychecks that were not actually deducted, $11,221 in cashed checks from the Benefit Plan, $7,207 in fraudulent reimbursements from the General Fund, $3,046 in personal purchases from the UGT's Visa credit card, and $4,942 in personal purchases from the UGT's Office Max credit card. Allegedly, Navarro also created false documents to justify his fraudulent vacation benefits, checks and reimbursements. [U.S.A.O. P.R., DOL]


Union Corruption Update is made possible by the generous contributions from readers like you. NLPC, PO Box 6821, Falls Church, VA 22040. Thank you. Union Corruption Update is part of NLPC's Organized Labor Accountability Project which is investigating and exposing corruption 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.

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 (http://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.
 
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