The convictions of former Boilermakers Union leaders mark a major federal win against alleged long-running theft from members, involving no-show jobs, luxury travel, personal charges to union funds, improper loans, and millions funneled into private benefits.

A federal jury found several high-ranking officials of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers guilty this week after evidence showed systematic siphoning of union money. The defendants include Newton Jones, 72, of Chapel Hill; his wife, Kateryna Jones, 33, of Chapel Hill; William Creeden, 78, of Kearney, Missouri; and former vice president Lawrence McManamon, 78, of Rocky River, Ohio. Prosecutors charged the group under the RICO Act and for multiple counts of embezzlement and fraud.

The scheme stretched across years and pulled money out of members’ pockets while leadership lived an upscale lifestyle. Jury findings point to no-show positions, unearned payouts, extravagant foreign travel billed as union business, and a $7 million unauthorized loan to a bank tied to the union. Those bank ties let some leaders collect additional salaries and retirement benefits while still drawing pay from the union.

Specific misconduct detailed at trial included hiring family members into positions that required little to no work and paying hefty sums for personal expenses. Trial evidence showed Newton Jones hired his wife in a role that produced almost no labor, and she received nearly $1.8 million in salary over nine years. The couple also charged more than $160,000 in hometown restaurant bills to the union.

The jury found the defendants guilty on multiple fronts that prosecutors say cost members dearly. Convictions covered embezzlement through lavish trips not tied to union business and personal expenses billed to the union. They also included payments of unearned salary and relocation expenses, improper vacation payouts, unauthorized surveillance costs, theft from the union retirement plan, health care fraud, and wire fraud tied to undisclosed conflicts of interest.

• Taking elaborate foreign trips that were not related to Union business.
• Charging personal expenses to the Union, including shopping trips and dinners out.
• Paying or overpaying unearned salary, relocation expenses, and vacation payouts.
• Making an unlawful $7M loan to a bank where leaders held high-paying positions.
• Theft from the Union retirement plan and health care fraud tied to unearned benefits.

Federal authorities described an organized pattern of abuse that lasted roughly 15 years and involved huge dollar amounts. Evidence at trial listed over $5 million spent on unnecessary luxury international travel and nearly $2 million in salary and benefits funneled to no-show workers like Kateryna Jones. The report also cited over $100,000 in tuition, rent, and relocation for family members, and hundreds of thousands more tied to fraudulent vacation claims.

• Over $5 million in unnecessary luxury international travel.
• Nearly $2 million in salary and benefits to no-show employees, including nearly two years of pay while one employee lived abroad.
• Over $100,000 in tuition, rent, and relocation for family members.
• Hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent vacation payouts and other cash payments.
• $7 million in unauthorized loans benefiting bank positions paying nearly $500,000 per year.

Officials underscored the betrayal this verdict represents for union members who expected honest stewardship of their dues. “The Boilermakers Union members were supposed to get representation out of their hard-earned money used to pay union dues,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “What they got instead is their money wasted on lavish trips and dinners, and unearned vacation payouts for the union leadership. Union dues must be handled with care and used for the benefit of the dues-paying members. Union leadership that steals from the American worker will face prosecution, conviction, and prison time.”

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U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser framed the convictions as accountability for blatant entitlement. “The absolute hubris and entitlement with which these defendants stole from American workers is disgraceful,” he said. “While union members were faithfully clocking-in and out of their jobs, these defendants thought they were unaccountable and were callously gallivanting on extravagant trips that spared no expense. With these convictions comes a reckoning, and we will be asking the Court to hold these defendants accountable for their criminal conduct and impose appropriate sentences of incarceration.”

The FBI and Department of Labor praised the teamwork that built the case and warned that financial misconduct will face vigorous scrutiny. “By using union funds for their private benefit, the fraud committed by these defendants strikes at the very confidence union members place in their leaders to represent their interests,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Omerod of the FBI Kansas City Field Office. “The evidence presented in trial demonstrated an elaborate and willful deceit of the Boilermakers Union to fund the lavish lifestyle of their former leaders. The FBI will not tolerate this level of financial exploitation against hard working Americans.”

Labor regulators highlighted fiduciary violations and pointed to new oversight steps for large unions. “These union officials clearly violated LMRDA fiduciary requirements with their excessive and extravagant spending and caused great harm to their organization and its members,” said Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Labor-Management Standards Director Elisabeth Messenger. “The conviction of these individuals serves as a strong warning to those who abuse their responsibilities that such violations of union members’ trust will lead to serious repercussions. The department’s new reporting requirements for large unions will go a long way in protecting the financial integrity of labor unions.”

Investigators also flagged misuse of retirement and health plan assets tied to that misconduct. “Investigating corruption and ensuring the financial integrity of private health and pension plans, including union plans, is a priority for EBSA,” said DOL Employee Benefits Security Administration Assistant Secretary Daniel Aronowitz. “In this case, Boilermakers officials put their own interests first and misused funds entrusted to them to provide retirement and health benefits for union members and their families. EBSA will pursue those who engage in criminal schemes to defraud private sector benefit plans. We are very pleased to have had the opportunity to work collaboratively with our law enforcement partners.”

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 1, and the defendants face serious potential penalties. Lawrence McManamon faces a maximum of five years in prison on each count, while Newton Jones, William Creeden, and Kateryna Jones face up to 20 years on each count. The court will set final terms after weighing the sentencing guidelines and statutory factors, and prosecutors from the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office handled the case.