Timothy Edmunds should have been watching over the finances at UAW Local 412 in Warren for his union brothers and sisters, but instead, prosecutors said he “systematically drained” more than $2.1 million to pay for gambling, guns, high-end vehicles and cocaine.
On Tuesday, as UAW members gathered in Detroit for the second day of their 38th constitutional convention, the 54-year-old former financial secretary treasurer of the UAW local representing about 2,600 Stellantis workers at plants in the metro area, was sentenced to 57 months in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit.
Judge Sean Cox also fined the South Lyon man $1 million and ordered him to pay almost $2 million in restitution to the UAW, according to a news release.
“Mr. Edmunds betrayed his union brothers and sisters by stealing their dues money to satisfy his own greed,” U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said in the release. “Today’s sentence demonstrates our continuing dedication to cleaning out corruption in the UAW.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office includes Edmunds in its roundup of those connected to the wide-ranging corruption probe, which it called “ongoing,” that led to convictions against former UAW officials and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles executives for misusing millions of dollars in unions funds and monies meant for worker training. Fiat Chrysler merged last year with Peugeot to form Stellantis; the U.S. operating arm is known as FCA US LLC.
UAW spokeswoman Sandra Engle, in response to a request for comment, highlighted the UAW’s efforts in the Edmunds case.
“The reforms we have put in practice in our union have created stringent reviews that uncovered this criminal behavior. Tim Edmunds violated the trust of membership and deserves his sentence,” Engle said in the statement.
The UAW has said that its auditors discovered Edmunds’ improper expenditures and turned their findings over to federal authorities, the Associated Press reported.
Edmunds’ attorney, Joseph Arnone, said in a sentencing memo that his client’s addiction to drugs and gambling were the cause of the wrongdoing.
Arnone said Edmunds, who pleaded guilty in March to charges of embezzling union funds and money laundering, “acted alone and that at no time was he working with or influenced by other” Local 412 members.
“He takes full responsibility for his actions and the choices he made. He further acknowledges that his addictions are in no way an excuse to absolve him of the harm he has caused. They are presented as an explanation to both the court, and those he represented, as to what led him to engage in this behavior,” Arnone wrote in a court filing this month.
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In his memo, Arnone said the crimes began in 2016, when Edmunds withdrew money “without recollection” from an American Express card issued to him by his local, which he replaced when the monthly statement arrived.
“As he spiraled out of control, he found himself unable to take funds from his own account and began making draws on the UAW’s card. He made efforts to replace these funds, but as time went on, his losses far exceeded his gains,” Arnone wrote.
The release from the U.S. Attorney’s office said Edmunds, who served in his union financial role from 2011 to 2021, used Local 412 debit cards to make $142,000 in personal purchases, cashed Local 412 checks worth $170,000 into accounts he controlled, and transferred $1.5 million from his local’s accounts into his own. He tried to conceal his actions from the others in the union by creating false bank statements, which he supplied to UAW auditors, and he caused false reports to be filed with the Labor Department, the release said.
Neil Barofsky, the independent monitor overseeing the UAW, noted in his latest status report that Edmunds also faces union disciplinary charges, which were filed earlier this month.
That report described the monitor’s challenges in dealing with the UAW, accusing the union of concealing an investigation into a union official’s mishandling of cash, but it also said the union appears to be on the right track again following a meeting with Ison and others in March.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence. Become a subscriber.