Union bosses across the country ended 2018 on a low note. From embezzling union funds to committing fraud, below are some of the worst labor rackets from the end of last year:
In Rhode Island, Adam Conheeny, former police officer and former Treasurer of Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 8, was sentenced to three months of imprisonment followed by two years of supervised release. Conheeny previously paid $20,000 in restitution. He admitted to using an FOP debit card, writing checks from a union account payable to himself, and withdrawing cash from an FOP bank account for his own personal use, totaling approximately $31,413.
In Michigan, Nancy Adams Johnson, former senior official in the Chrysler Department of the United Auto Workers (UAW), was sentenced to 12 months and 1 day in prison and 12 months of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and a $100 special assessment. Johnson plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Labor Management Relations Act, stemming from her receipt of over $45,000 in prohibited payments and things of value from Alphons Iacobelli, former Vice President of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles US LLC (FCA), and others acting in the interest of FCA. The payments were made using the bank account and credit card account of the UAW-Chrysler National Training Center (NTC), which was established to provide for the education, training, and retraining of Chrysler workers.
In New Jersey, Lawrence Ackerman, the Chief Operating Officer of “shell” companies including Atlantic Business Associates (ABA) and Atlantic Medical Associates (AMA), plead guilty to a superseding information for Health Care Fraud, as well as Aiding and Abetting. Ackerman executed a scheme to defraud Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of New Jersey involving enrollment of ineligible participants who were purported employees of ABA and AMA, both sham companies, in the benefit plan of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2326 which had an insurance contract with Horizon BCBS. Ackerman entered into a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with Local 2326; however, neither ABA nor AMA had any full-time employees eligible for participation in the benefit plan as required by the CBA and benefit plan trust agreement. The resulting loss to Horizon BCBS was approximately $481,500.
