DETROIT — Federal prosecutors Wednesday charged a local United Auto Workers official with stealing union funds, money laundering and spending money on gambling, guns and cars.
UAW Local 412 Financial Secretary/Treasurer Tim Edmunds, 53, of South Lyon is the 17th criminal case filedarged in a years-long investigation of corruption within one of the nation's largest and most influential unions that revealed UAW leaders and auto executives broke labor laws, stole union funds and received bribes and kickbacks. The investigation has led to prison sentences for two former presidents and court-ordered oversight of the union.
The unsealed criminal case describes a prolonged embezzlement scheme involving union money that bankrolled high-end shopping sprees at Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga and Apple and more union funds spent on child support payments and gambling binges at Detroit's Greektown Casino.
“Our No. 1 priority right now is turning himself in, and we intend to face this,” his lawyer, Joseph Arnone, told The Detroit News. “He is entitled to the presumption of innocence just like anybody else is. We will work through this process.”
The case — the first criminal charges filed since a court-appointed corruption watchdog was installed to oversee reforms within the union — was filed more than one month after the UAW revealed that its auditors discovered more than $2 million in improper expenditures of union dues at Local 412 in Warren, whose members include Stellantis NV workers.
Edmunds, who worked at the UAW from 2011-20, “systematically drained” the union local’s bank accounts of about $2 million by using the labor group’s credit cards for personal purchases, cashing local checks and transferring money into his accounts, according to the criminal case.
He used the money to gamble, buy luxury clothes, high-end automobiles and firearms, prosecutors alleged. That includes more than $30,000 in unauthorized ATM transactions using a union debit card at Greektown Casino from 2018-20, prosecutors alleged.
He was a Greektown Casino regular, prosecutors said, and had cash buy-ins of more than $1 million and put more than $16 million in play while at the casino from 2016-20.
Edmunds also tried to cover up the crimes by creating false bank statements and false federal labor reports, according to the criminal case.
Edmunds was charged with five different crimes, including theft or embezzlement of union funds, filing false labor reports and money laundering. If convicted, he faces more than 20 years in federal prison.
The investigation emerged in August when Labor Department investigators learned about a “sizeable embezzlement” involving Edmunds and Local 412, prosecutors alleged.
Union auditors revealed they had uncovered about $1.5 million in unauthorized transfers by Edmunds from union accounts into an unknown account at PNC Bank since 2015, according to the criminal complaint.
Union auditors also discovered more than $170,000 in UAW Local 412 rebate checks also were deposited into the PNC Bank account. They also learned about $142,000 in unauthorized charges on a union debit card at retailers, including Louis Vuitton and Balenciaga.
The audit also revealed about $255,000 worth of cashier’s checks drawn on the union’s savings account from 2015-18. The checks included the signature of union local President Jerry Witt, but he denied knowing about the checks and said the signature was forged, according to the complaint.
Investigators later traced the PNC Bank account to Edmunds after realizing he was a signatory on the account, according to the complaint. The money was supposed to be used to purchase election-related materials and for events related to internal union officer elections.
The money-laundering charge involves Edmunds gambling at Greektown Casino, according to the complaint. He left the casino with almost $90,000 worth of uncashed casino chips from 2016-19, which investigators said is a deliberate attempt to avoid alerting the Internal Revenue Service to gambling winnings.
Edmunds, meanwhile, amassed an arsenal and fleet of vehicles during the alleged crime spree, according to the complaint.
He has registered at least 10 firearms since last year that each ranged in price from $500-$2,000 and spent large sums on five vehicles in recent years. That includes a 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk that cost $96,419, prosecutors said.
The international UAW based in Detroit implemented new monetary control measures amid a years-long federal investigation into corruption within the union that has resulted in the convictions of 15 people, including two former UAW presidents, and put it under an independent monitor. Stuglin championed the measures as an effective tool to clean up the union.
It was not immediately clear for how long the improper expenditures at Local 412 had been made. In a letter to members, though, Local 412 President Jerry Witt said he was recommending the local's executive board consider placing the local in administratorship to assist in correcting the breach. The union also is working with the international to file a bond for its losses.
The enhanced auditing system was put in place by Stuglin's predecessor, now-UAW President Ray Curry. Auditors on staff this summer identified the irregularities. The union hired four additional auditors as part of its financial reforms that also included expanded internal training.
