Posted on 01/04/2010 5:13:36 AM PST by reaganaut1
In her working hours, Melissa G. King administered benefit funds for the sandhogs’ union, associating with the muscled and plain-spoken men who blast through earth and darkness to build tunnels beneath the city.
But in her free time, she squired her teenage daughter to the nation’s elite equestrian events, building a stable of horses that would be the envy of any on the horse-show circuit.
The two worlds could not be more disparate. But to hear federal authorities tell it, she gained entry into one only by stealing from the other.
Ms. King, 58, was charged last month with embezzling $42 million from the union’s employee benefit funds over seven years. Prosecutors said much of it was lavished on her personal life: more than $3 million in equestrian-related expenses, $7.3 million for American Express bills, $713,500 at a Southern California jewelry store and more than $300,000 at Neiman Marcus. .
...
As what is known as a third-party fund administrator, she handled administrative functions for three employee benefit funds of the union, collecting contributions from employers, making payments to members and maintaining accounting records. She did not handle investment choices.
“She was using company funds to pay personal expenses,” Mr. Geron recalled in an interview. “I did see problems, and I made a referral.”
No criminal charges were brought against Ms. King, and she went on with her life. She moved to a large house on a quiet street in Irvington, and continued to operate her business under a new name, King Care.
...
The sandhogs paid Ms. King’s company, according to court documents, $540,000 a year, a fee that several people in her profession said seemed very high for a union that, until recently, had just 400 members.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Solid dimocrat voter alert!!
42 Million? I just checked my total career earnings (37 years) and I am not even close to that figure. Wow, I should have been associated with a corrupt union or been in a position to steal from one.
Makes Hoffa and Fitzsimmons et al look like pikers? Not really. WE should audit most of the career politicians, they stink too.
This is why we need unions, to fleece the workers.
Pray for America’s Freedom
Liberal Lesson: Loot and live large!
I bet the sandhogs will get to the bottom of this soon.
Just like a SunTan U product - useless, larceny inclined, a true Democrat/Liberal. In this she is similar to SunTan U’s present President - A.K.A. Donna Shelala.
Both are, after all, deeply committed to returning money to its ‘rightful owners’.
I definitely think it would be Very Bad For Your Health to be caught stealing from these people.
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