It hurts more when done by those sworn to protect.
Former state trooper Kenneth Wynder Jr., president of the Law Enforcement Employees Benevolent Association, a labor union for New York City law enforcement officers, is accused of defrauding members by misappropriating money from the union’s Annuity Fund.
Steven Whittick, union treasurer and a police officer for New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, was also charged with obstructing the investigation and making false statements to federal agents.
Wynder allegedly made hundreds of thousands of dollars of fraudulent transfers from the Annuity Fund to the union’s operating account, which he controlled, and used the funds to enrich himself at union members’ expense. It included “unauthorized and excessive” checks to himself and cash withdrawals for his own benefit.
In addition, he had the union pay for various personal expenses such as a second residence, clothing, travel, and the purchase of a personal automobile. None were reported to the IRS, as required.
He repeatedly made false and misleading statements to a third-party retirement plan manager that served as the custodian for the Annuity Fund and the retirement accounts of individual union members.
He sent emails and faxes to withdraw increasingly large sums of money, effectively causing such withdrawals to be made from the retirement accounts of individual members.
From 2014 through 2019, Wynder allegedly took more than $500,000 from the individual retirement accounts that constitute the Annuity Fund, thereby wiping out the entire balance of certain members’ accounts.
Whittick, for his part, is accused of repeatedly lying to federal agents investigating the case. After the FBI executed a search warrant of union offices in September 2019, Whittick attempted to obstruct and to influence the investigation by making, in two different interviews with law enforcement agents, false statements about cash withdrawals.
“Today we have charged two leaders of a union that represents local law enforcement officers for engaging in criminal conduct, something they and their membership are sworn to combat,” Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss said in a statement. “As alleged, Kenneth Wynder abused his position as the union’s president and its annuity fund’s administrator and trustee to raid his members’ retirement accounts. As further alleged, Steven Whittick, the union’s treasurer, took repeated steps to obstruct a federal investigation aimed at uncovering those financial improprieties.”
Charges
Wynder, 56, is charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Whittick, 50, is separately charged with one count of obstruction of justice, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and two counts of false statements to federal investigators, each of which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.