LOST WHALE’S A SIGN OF THAMES
Ex-union chief admits thieving
The former president of a union representing industrial and service workers pleaded guilty Wednesday to spending members’ money on lavish personal expenses such as spa treatments and fancy clothes.
Rocco Fazzolari, the former president of United Industrial and Service Employees Union Local 122, admitted in Manhattan Federal Court that he swiped $128,000 in members’ money. He also admitted to participating in a separate $1 million kickback scheme in which he funneled union money through a company that processes medical claims. That company, Acclaim Administrators, then kicked the vast majority of the money back to Fazzolari, 58, without providing any services, prosecutors said.
“Rocco Fazzolari abused his position as the president of a labor union to line his own pockets,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said.
Fazzolari, of Manhasset Hills, L.I., concealed his theft of union money by moving cash out of an employee benefit plan, prosecutors said. In addition to luxury clothes and spa days, Fazzolari also spent the money on a gym membership, a second car, medical expenses and dues for an actors union.
The disgraced union boss has had bit parts in four small films, according to movie database IMDb. As part of his guilty plea, he is banned from belonging to a union for 13 years.
The union Fazzolari once ran appears to be small. Tax filings from 2017, the most recent year available, indicate it had $143,000 in total revenue.
He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison for three charges relating to theft of union money.
Fazzolari’s attorney declined to comment.