The New York Times and The Bergen Record are reporting on the arrest of Hector Lopez, identified as resident of Oakland, NJ.
A 15-count indictment was unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn this morning charging Hector Lopez, the former president of the Metal Polishers Union (Local 8A-28A) and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Local 8A-28A welfare fund, with accepting more than $740,000 in kickbacks embezzled from the union local’s welfare fund.
The crimes charged in the indictment include conspiracy to embezzle from an employee benefit plan, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, structuring financial transactions, and tax evasion. As alleged, the defendant engaged in several schemes to obtain money from the local’s welfare fund, including:
(1) accepting over $740,000 in kickbacks from the third-party administrator of the welfare fund in exchange for ensuring the continued retention of that administrator,
(2) accepting kickbacks from an employer trustee of the local’s welfare fund (“the employer trustee”) in exchange for authorizing the welfare fund to pay fraudulent invoices for a union hall renovation performed by a company owned by the employer trustee, and
(3) accepting a kickback from the employer trustee in exchange for rigging the bidding process to ensure that a sprinkler installation job was awarded to a company controlled by the employer trustee.
The indictment also charges that the defendant violated the Taft-Hartley Act by living rent-free with his family in a New Jersey home owned by the employer trustee whose company had a collective bargaining agreement with the local, and that the defendant structured over $82,000 in cash deposits at local banks to evade federal reporting requirements.
United States Attorney Lynch stated, “As detailed in the indictment, Hector Lopez was entrusted with ensuring the sound management of the welfare fund for the benefit of union members. Instead, he turned the fund into a personal piggy bank, lining his pockets with the fruits of their labors. In doing so, he betrayed the trust of the union members who had elected him and abused his power for personal profit. His illicit gain was the union member’s loss. The defendant will now be held to account for his actions.” Ms. Lynch expressed her grateful appreciation to the agencies that participated in the government’s investigation.
DOL-OIG Special Agent-in-Charge Panella stated, “The defendant in this case allegedly embezzled from the union’s health and welfare benefit fund – a violation of federal law and of his obligations to the union members he was elected to represent. The OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to protect the assets and benefits of hard-working union members.”
If convicted of the most serious offense, the defendant faces a maximum term of 20 years’ imprisonment.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Charles Kleinberg and Marisa Megur Seifan.
http://nlpc.org/stories/2012/04/30/contractor-pleads-guilty-defrauding-local-benefit-fund