Posted on 01/02/2005 6:51:15 AM PST by Land_of_Lincoln_John
The FBI is investigating whether hundreds of thousands of dollars were siphoned from a Teamsters benefit plan that provides dental care to Chicago-area undertakers and valets, according to sources.
The criminal investigation is the first indication that law enforcement authorities are acting upon an internal Teamsters union report alleging that money may have been diverted from Local 727's dental plan from 1993 to early 2000.
Using the Teamsters report as a blueprint, agents with the FBI's organized crime unit have conducted several interviews, including talks with at least two dentists. Also guided by the report, a grand jury in September issued a subpoena to Harris Bank for records tied to the dental plan's accounts, according to a bank spokeswoman.
The Teamsters report alleged that 30 percent of all the money companies paid to provide dental and vision care for their unionized workers supposedly went for "grossly excessive" administrative costs and fees.
The report also raised concerns about payments from the plan to "persons and entities ... having had ties to organized crime figures, been implicated in racketeering schemes or both."
If true, rank-and-file Teamsters probably received less in hourly wages because employers unknowingly overfunded a dental plan so that money could be diverted into the pockets of others, according to investigators who worked on the Teamsters report.
The allegations potentially have far-reaching meaning for the corruption-tainted Teamsters union because they involve Local 727, which is lead by John Coli, a union powerbroker in Chicago and nationally.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Union thugs looting the worker's funds? Would a thunk? And from the honest Chicago are no lees. And the sterling mafia free Teamsters. Shezam!
Union thugs looting the worker's funds? Would a thunk? And from the honest Chicago area no less. And the sterling mafia-free Teamsters. Shezam!
Hoffa may be dead, his methods are alive!
I've found that dental probes can be rather painful.
But really, this isn't a problem, since the Teamsters represent the "working man." /sarcasm
Its always "da Teamstas"
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