Two Union Officials Busted for Money-Grabbing Corruption
On April 13th, two union bosses were busted for money-grabbing corruption crimes. Joseph Whitbeck from the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 274 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, was indicted for conducting wire fraud. His crimes consist of a total of 10 counts of wire fraud, as though putting large sums of employees’ hard-earned money straight into his pocket once or twice wasn’t enough. This investigation has been ongoing, and you can read more about it here.
Meanwhile, in Muskegon, Michigan, Hasan Zahdeh from the Michigan Union of Healthcare Workers (MUHW) pled guilty to embezzling union funds on the same day. The original accusation toward Zadeh had originally only been $15,640. However, after further investigation, he is pleading guilty to embezzling a total of $140,498. That’s nearly 10 times more than the amount that was originally suspected. You can read about the original charges here.
These two union officials were from two different organizations in two different states, but this news still isn’t shocking, considering how fraught forced unions are with corruption.
From the Department of Labor:
Joseph Whitbeck […] was indicted on 10 counts of honest services wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1343 and 1346, and 10 counts of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1343. […]
Hasan Zadeh […] pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement of union funds totaling $140,498, in violation of 29 U.S.C. 501(c).DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
To read more on this case, please visit the DOL site here.
To stay up to date on Criminal Union Corruption, check out our 2021 U.S. DOL Criminal LMRDA Enforcement Actions page here.