KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A federal jury convicted four current and former leaders of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers on racketeering, embezzlement, and fraud charges, finding that they stole millions of dollars in union dues through lavish foreign travel, no-show jobs, unauthorized loans, and personal expenses charged to the union over a 15-year period.
The jury convicted Newton Jones, 72, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the former president of the Boilermakers Union, his wife Kateryna Jones, 33, his former secretary-treasurer William Creeden, 78, of Kearney, Missouri, and former vice president Lawrence McManamon, 78, of Rocky River, Ohio. Jones, Kateryna Jones, and Creeden were convicted of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in addition to embezzlement charges. All four defendants were convicted of embezzlement.
Evidence presented at trial showed that over a 15-year period the defendants embezzled more than $5 million in unnecessary luxury international travel, including executive meetings held at extravagant hotels in Paris and Rome with no apparent business purpose. Newton Jones hired his wife Kateryna Jones for a union position in which she performed little to no work, paying her nearly $1.8 million in salary over nine years — including two years when she was living in Ukraine and dating Jones. The couple also charged more than $160,000 in restaurant bills in their hometown of Chapel Hill to the union…