DETROIT — Tim Edmunds, a former UAW official at Local 412 in Warren, Mich., pleaded guilty on Friday to embezzling $2.2 million in union funds and laundering money .
He could face up to nearly five years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.
The guilty pleas come about four months after Edmunds, 54, was accused of the crimes after an internal UAW audit uncovered the wrongdoing. He is the 16th person charged… and 16th to plead guilty – in government premises ongoing corruption investigation this resulted in a six-year monitoring period for the union.
Under the terms of a plea deal, Edmunds faces 46 to 57 months in prison and owes the UAW $1.9 million in restitution. Prosecutors say he returned $300,000 in stolen funds to the syndicate before his crimes were discovered.
Prosecutors alleged that Edmunds, who served as financial secretary, “systematically emptied” Local 412 accounts of more than $2 million by using business credit cards for personal purchases, transferring from money into his personal accounts and by cashing Local 412 checks into his personal accounts.
He used the money to gamble as well as buy expensive clothes, high-end automobiles and firearms, according to charging documents.
Over a two-year period, for example, prosecutors said he used a Local 412 debit card to make more than $30,000 in unauthorized withdrawals at the Greektown Casino in Detroit. He also purchased a number of vehicles, including a $74,000 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT, a $96,000 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk and a $76,000 2021 Dodge Durango.
“The hard-working men and women of the UAW deserve leaders dedicated to serving the best interests of their members,” U.S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison said in a statement. “Today’s sentencing demonstrates our zealous pursuit of those who would seek to take advantage of their positions of trust within the UAW to rob and defraud union members.”
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