Edward “Nick” Robinson, an aide to UAW Gary Jones, pleaded guilty to charges centered on embezzling more than $1.5 million union dues.
Edward “Nick” Robinson, the former president of the United Auto Workers Midwest CAP and former director of UAW Labor and Employment Training, pleaded guilty to conspiring with other UAW officials to embezzle more than $1.5 million in union dues and divert it for personal use.
As part of his plea agreement with the federal government, the 72-year-old Robinson, who also pleaded guilty of failing to pay $42,000 taxes on his share of the embezzled dues money, agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors in their ongoing investigation into corruption inside the UAW.
Robinson’s plea agreement appears to bring federal prosecutors one step closer to building a case against former UAW President Gary Jones and possibly his predecessor in the job, Dennis Williams. As head of the union’s community action program in UAW Region 5, Robinson served a key aide to Jones before Jones became union president in June 2018.
(UAW President’s Key Aide Faces Federal Criminal Charges.)
During the plea hearing, Robinson admitted he conspired with at least six other senior union officials in a multi-year conspiracy to embezzle money from the UAW for the personal benefit of himself and other senior UAW officials, according to papers filed U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan.
Former UAW Vice President Joe Ashton pleaded guilty to federal charges in early December. He will be sentenced this month.
Robinson and other senior UAW officials concealed personal expenditures for cigars, expensive liquor and golf equipment as well as meals and lodgings in Palm Springs and California and in the State of Missouri, according to court documents.
He said during a hearing in federal court this week the illicit expenditures were concealed in expense reports filed with UAW Region 5 in Kirkwood, Missouri, and union headquarters in Detroit.
In his role as President of the Midwest CAP, Robinson had control of UAW political funds, said besides using the UAW conference to conceal the fraudulent use of UAW money for personal expenses, Robinson also wrote over $500,000 in fraudulent checks from the union’s political accounts. Robinson then turned these checks into cash and kept some of them money for himself and shared it with other UAW officials, according to federal prosecutors.
The scandal, which has severely damaged the UAW’s reputation for honesty and integrity, also has undercut the UAW’s political effort at a critical time.
Robinson’s plea agreement appears to bring federal prosecutors one step closer to building a case against former UAW President Gary Jones.
“Nick Robinson violated his oath of office and betrayed the trust of our hard-working members. Currently, under the leadership of President Rory L. Gamble, the UAW has begun implementing a series of critical reforms necessary to strengthen the union’s financial controls, oversight, and its overall accounting system so this type of conduct cannot happen again,” the UAW said in a statement.
(UAW Moves to Expel Eight More Former Executives.)
“As President Gamble, the International Executive Board and UAW continue to aggressively enact these critical reforms to protect the union’s members, we will never forget the costly lessons of the selfish actions of a few.”
The union has said it has turned over more than 1.9 million pages of documents to federal investigators in response to queries from federal investigators.
Robinson is the 13th defendant to plead guilty in connection with the ongoing investigation into illegal payoffs to UAW officers and officials by executives from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. and corruption with the UAW itself. Three of the guilty came from FCA, while nine have come from the UAW.
“Our office will never tolerate the abuse of union funds for the benefit of corrupt union officials,” said Matthew Schneider, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Former UAW President Dennis Williams could also be embroiled in the union’s embezzlement scandal.
“We will continue our work until the men and women of the UAW have confidence that the union leadership is serving to advance their interests instead of the personal interests of union bosses,” Schneider said in a statement issued after Robinson plead guilty in front of Judge Paul Borman.
While it investigates the UAW, however, Schneider’s office is being forced to defend itself in a case involving a federal prisoner, who served as confidential informant for federal police agencies over the years. After his release from federal custody in late October, apparently at the suggestion of one of Schneider’s assistants, according to a court transcript obtained by the Detroit Free Press, the informant was implicated the murder of six other people in the Detroit area before he killed himself when cornered by police officers.
(Former VP Ashton pleads guilty to UAW-GM corruption.)
Prior to his appointment as U.S. Attorney by President Donald Trump, Schneider had served as a top assistant to former Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette.