Edward Nick Robinson, Embezzlement, Michigan 2019

Former UAW Midwest CAP President Edward ‘Nick’ Robinson, 72, of Kirkwood, Missouri, pleaded guilty today to conspiring with other UAW officials to embezzle over $1 million of UAW dues money and to defraud the United States by evading the payment of taxes, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider.

Joining in the announcement were Irene Lindow, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General, Steven M. D’Antuono, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit, Michigan office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Sarah Kull, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit, Michigan office of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations, and Thomas Murray, District Director, U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Labor-Management Standards.

Between at least 2010 and September 2019, Robinson served as the President of the UAW’s Midwest CAP of Region 5 of the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Workers of America (“UAW”). The UAW Midwest CAP is one of the UAW’s Community Action Program Councils which are supported through UAW dues money.

During the plea hearing, Robinson admitted that he conspired with at least six other senior UAW officials in a multiyear conspiracy to embezzle money from the UAW for the personal benefit of Robinson and other senior UAW officials. Robinson and other UAW officials concealed personal expenditures in the cost of UAW Region 5 conferences held in Palm Springs, California, Coronado, California, and Missouri.

For example, Robinson and other senior UAW officials used UAW money to buy sets of golf clubs, individual clubs, and other golf equipment that cost thousands of dollars. They spent over $100,000 to purchase golf clothing, shirts, hats, sunglasses, golf balls, jackets, and fashion shorts from various pro shops at golf courses in California and Missouri.

As part of the conspiracy, Robinson and his co-conspirators embezzled over $60,000 in UAW funds for the purchase of boxes of cigars, humidors, cigar cutting equipment, and lighters from 2014 to 2018. The costs of the cigars were hidden within the expenses for the Region 5 conferences.

Agents seized dozens of cigars, humidors, and other tobacco-related items in the personal residences of UAW officials, as well as hundreds of high-end bottles of liquor, hundreds of golf shirts, multiple sets of golf clubs, and over thirty thousand dollars in cash during search warrants executed by federal law enforcement in August 2019 in connection with the investigation.

Related Federal Cases