Former Virginia port union official sentenced for $1 million fraud
NORFOLK -- The former business agent for a dockworker union office was sentenced Thursday to almost 3½ years in federal prison in connection with a $1 million fraud.
Robert Smith III, 49, of Virginia Beach pleaded guilty in October in U.S. District Court.
According to court documents, Smith served as business agent and financial secretary of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 970 – one of a half-dozen union “locals,” or units, made up of dockworkers who load and unload ships that call on the port.
From March 2006 through April 2016, Smith embezzled large sums of money from the union, according to court documents. He deposited new-member initiation fees and some dues into a union bank account and then used those funds for his own purposes.
Read more: http://pilotonline.com/news/local/crime/former-virginia-port-union-official-sentenced-for-million-fraud/article_15c6d74a-85fd-58ab-b5d7-fce77d206939.html