>But let's look in more detail at what counts as
>"labor racketeering" by readng the most recent
>"<http://www.oig.dol.gov/public/semiannuals/54.pdf>Semi-Annual
>Report to the Congress" by the Office. It's a
>PDF so scroll down to page 33 where the Labor
>Racketeering part starts. Some of the problems
>are very real, including fighting crime
>influence on the east coast longshoremen union,
>but when you get to the money fines, suddenly
>the defendants largely stop being union
>officials, but instead are businesses that
>defrauded the unions-- ie. the union leaders
>were the victims not the criminals. Here are a
>few examples:
>
>Peter Wong, who controlled Pacific Group Medical
>Association (PGMA), pled guilty on June 14,
>2005, to charges of insurance fraud and money
>laundering. In 1997, PGMA failed with more than
>$18 million in unpaid medical claims, making it
>one of the largest health plan failures in
>Hawaii’s history. PGMA had provided health
>coverage for 26,000 people, including members of
>the United Public Workers Union Local 646.
Not so quick, Nathan.
<http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Jul/25/ln/ln21a.html>
>Almost half of the people whose medical
>insurance was provided by PGMA were members of
>the United Public Workers union and the Hawai'i
>Government Employees Association.
>In federal court last November, former UPW
>leader Gary Rodrigues was found guilty of mail
>fraud, money laundering and embezzling union
>funds.
>One of the charges against him noted that the
>contract he negotiated with PGMA to provide
>coverage for union members allowed the company
>to set aside a portion of premium payments to be
>transferred back to the union to hire a
>consultant to periodically analyze the medical
>plan.
>But Rodrigues never told the union's 12,000
>members or other union officials that he had
>selected his daughter, Robin Rodrigues Sabatini,
>a Kaua'i bookkeeper, to be the consultant and
>that Sabatini did little or no work in exchange
>for hundreds of thousands of dollars she was
>paid, federal prosecutors maintained during the
>trial.
>Rodrigues and Sabatini are scheduled to be
>sentenced Sept. 29. During their trial, their
>attorneys claimed it was Sabatini who "tipped
>off" her father that PGMA was on shaky financial
>ground and, as a result, Rodrigues ordered union
>office workers to stop making payments to the
>company and began negotiating with other
>healthcare insurance providers.
>Kubo declined to say yesterday what role the
>relationship between Rodrigues and PGMA played
>in the decision by the U.S. attorney's office to
>bring charges against Wong. He said an
>investigation into PGMA's operations is
>continuing.
>Assistant U.S. Attorney Florence Nakakuni, who
>prosecuted the case against Rodrigues, is also
>the lead prosecutor in the PGMA case.
>Ed Fischer, a special agent of the federal Labor
>Department inspector general's office, was
>instrumental in the Rodrigues prosecution and
>also involved in the investigation that led to
>Wong's indictment. Fischer said the indictment
>pertains only to the information Wong provided
>to state regulators and is not related to the
>consultant agreement Rodrigues had with PGMA.