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Operating Engineers, Local 324

Indictments

Office of Labor-Management Enforcement

The Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) conducts both civil and criminal investigations of alleged violations of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) and related laws.

These investigations by OLMS District Offices involve issues such as embezzlements of union funds, union officer elections, the filing of required reports by unions and others with OLMS, and the imposition of trusteeships over subordinate unions by a parent body. These investigations may result in legal enforcement actions.

DateDescription
December 16th, 2015On December 16, 2015, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, John Hamilton, former business manager of International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 324 (located in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), was charged in a nine-count indictment with one count of interference with commerce by extortion and one count of conspiracy to commit extortion (18 U.S.C. 1951); one count of attempted structuring of financial transactions (31 U.S.C. 5324(a)(3)); one count of laundering of monetary instruments (18 U.S.C. 1956(a)(1)(B)(i) & (B)(ii)); one count of embezzlement of union funds (29 U.S.C. 501(c)); two counts of conspiracy to embezzle union funds (18 U.S.C. 371 & 29 U.S.C. 501(c)); one count of conspiracy to commit theft from an employee or welfare benefit fund (18 U.S.C. 371 & 664); and one count of conspiracy to commit honest services mail and wire fraud (18 U.S.C. 1349). The charges follow a joint investigation by the OLMS Detroit-Milwaukee District Office, the Department of LaborÕs Office of Inspector General, the Employee Benefits Security Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Internal Revenue Service.