Illinois State Senator Indicted for Allegedly Fraudulently Receiving Salary and Benefits from Labor Union

CHICAGO — A federal grand jury in Chicago has indicted Illinois State Sen. THOMAS E. CULLERTON on embezzlement charges for allegedly fraudulently receiving salary and benefits from a labor union for which he did little or no work.

Cullerton, 49, of Villa Park, is charged with one count of conspiracy to embezzle from a labor union and employee benefit plans, 39 counts of embezzlement from a labor union, and one count of making false statements in a health care matter, according to an indictment returned Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Arraignment in federal court has not yet been scheduled.

The indictment was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Jeffrey S. Sallet, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the FBI; and Irene Lindow, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General in Chicago. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amarjeet S. Bhachu and Abigail Peluso.

According to the indictment, Cullerton was a member of Teamsters Local Union 734 prior to assuming office as an Illinois State Senator. After his election in November 2012, Cullerton was no longer an eligible participant in Local 734’s health and pension funds. In March 2013, while Cullerton was serving in the Illinois Senate, the president of Teamsters Joint Council 25 hired him as a purported union organizer. The full-time, salaried position included benefits from Local 734’s health and pension funds, due to an agreement Joint Council 25 entered into with Local 734 that same month, the indictment states.

The charges allege that for the next three years Cullerton did little or no work as an organizer. When Joint Council 25 supervisors requested that he perform his job duties, Cullerton routinely ignored them, the indictment states. From March 2013 to February 2016, Cullerton fraudulently obtained from Joint Council 25 and its members approximately $188,320 in salary, bonuses, and cellphone and vehicle allowances, as well as approximately $64,068 in health and pension contributions, according to the indictment. Cullerton used the proceeds of the payments to pay personal expenses, such as his mortgage, utilities and groceries, the charges allege.

The indictment alleges that Cullerton also fraudulently obtained approximately $21,678 in reimbursed medical claims from Local 734’s Health and Welfare Fund. Cullerton submitted or caused to be submitted to medical providers information that made it appear he was a “route salesman” for Local 734, the indictment states. The false information concealed and covered up the fact that Cullerton was not eligible for participation in the fund since he was not regularly scheduled to work at least 30 hours per week for Local 734, Joint Council 25, or any other employer that participated in the fund, according to the indictment.

The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The charges in the indictment are each punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/illinois-state-senator-indicted-allegedly-fraudulently-receiving-salary-and-benefits-0

Link https://twitter.com/FBI/status/1157365534561853440

Breaking: ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ’S CHIEF OF STAFF AND COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR WILL DEPART HER OFFICE

TWO OF Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez’s top staffers are leaving her office.

Saikat Chakrabarti, her chief of staff, and Corbin Trent, her director of communications — who, through their work with Justice Democrats, have been alongside Ocasio-Cortez since her primary run — will leave the lawmaker’s office. Chakrabarti will go to New Consensus, a nonprofit focused on climate issues and promoting the Green New Deal. Trent will direct communications on Ocasio-Cortez’s 2020 campaign, the same role he played during her first congressional run.

“Saikat has decided to leave the office of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez to work with New Consensus to further develop plans for a Green New Deal,” Trent said in a statement to The Intercept. “We are extraordinarily grateful for his service to advance a bold agenda and improve the lives of the people in NY-14. From his co-founding of Justice Democrats to his work on the Ocasio-Cortez campaign and in the official office, Saikat’s goal has always been to do whatever he can to help the larger progressive movement, and we look forward to continuing working with him to do just that.”

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Chakrabarti wants to prioritize working on advancing the Green New Deal, something he can focus on more at New Consensus than he can while managing Ocasio-Cortez’s office and deflecting attacks from House leadership. He also has a new baby, and will have more time to devote to parenting.

Ocasio-Cortez asked Trent to move to the campaign, she told The Intercept. Trent is “shifting to our campaign side so we can work on some ambitious comms projects we’ve been looking forward to working on,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a text message. Ocasio-Cortez is facing one Republican opponent, Scherie Murray, a businesswoman from New York who immigrated to the U.S. from Jamaica as a child.

Chakrabarti’s last day is Friday, August 2, and Trent’s transition timeline is still unclear, Ocasio-Cortez told The Intercept. Trent told The Intercept he expects to continue serving as spokesperson through the end of August. Trent, who has been directing communications for the Ocasio-Cortez campaign part time since 2018, will now do so full time. Ariel Eckblad, Ocasio-Cortez’s legislative director, will take over as chief of staff.

THE NEWS COMES just as a drawn-out fight between House Democratic leadership and the progressive wing of the party — which at times put Ocasio-Cortez’s staffers in its crosshairs — seemed to be smoothing over. Progressives in the House have tangled with leadership over a series of policy fights including emergency funding at the border and how to hash out the approach to Medicare for All and a Green New Deal. They’ve also clashed over the growing number of candidates challenging Democratic incumbents, as Ocasio-Cortez did last year — moves that have been met with backlash from the House’s campaign arm.

The fight bled into a broader discourse over when and how it’s most appropriate to air disputes between colleagues, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi disparaging members of the progressive “Squad” in a July interview with the New York Times. Pelosi took a swipe at Ocasio-Cortez, along with Reps. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley, who broke with Democrats and voted against a border funding bill in late June, calling them “four people” with a “public whatever and their Twitter world” who don’t have “any following.”

In a closed-door meeting a few days after the Times interview, Pelosi told colleagues, “do not tweet” about other members, a warning viewed as being directed at the Squad and Ocasio-Cortez’s staff. Ocasio-Cortez told the Washington Post she thought Pelosi’s comments were “outright disrespectful,” and singled out the four women of color in a way that was unfair.

Full https://theintercept.com/2019/08/02/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-saikat-chakrabarti-corbin-trent/