FBI joins PBA probe

Lobbying firm run by State Police union official under scrutiny

ALBANY — The New York State Troopers Police Benevolent Association, which is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation into its financial dealings, has paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars through the years to individuals or companies with connections to the union or to a related charity organization, the Signal 30 Benefit Fund.

Many of the transactions were for legal work, lobbying or “networking.” A lobbying firm operated by a longtime PBA official that has done extensive work for the union also subcontracted some of its national work to a limited liability company formed by Thomas H. Mungeer, the PBA’s former president. Mungeer was elected president of the PBA in 2009 and remained in that position until October, when he stepped down as the union underwent a leadership mutiny and internal questions about its finances.

The union has retained new legal counsel and hired an accounting firm to review its myriad bank accounts and expenditures dating back years. Daniel Strollo, the PBA’s new general counsel, said “it became clear that we needed a new group of attorneys and accountants.”

Significant payments from the PBA were made to Hudson Strategies Government Relations, a registered lobbying firm run by Gordon Warnock, a retired trooper who had previously served as a union delegate for State Police Troop F and later as the PBA’s second vice president. Warnock holds the title of "political director" for the PBA and is also an executive director for the Signal 30 Benefit Fund, which was formed by the PBA nearly two decades ago and has raised

millions of dollars for charitable causes.

The Times Union began examining the dealings of the PBA and Signal 30 last year, after the leadership shakeup at the union, which represents several thousand state troopers. The tumult involved internal allegations of policy violations, including undisclosed conflicts of interest, lavish expenses and questionable financial and hiring practices. The newspaper’s ongoing reporting on the PBA and its related charitable organization includes interviews with individuals familiar with their operations and a review of internal documents and public filings.

The unrest intensified on Jan. 10, when members of the State Police Special Investigations Unit executed search warrants at the PBA’s Albany headquarters and the nearby offices of the Signal 30 Benefit Fund. The investigators carted away records and copied information from computers; they also seized the mobile phone of Mungeer, who by then had returned to his regular trooper assignment.

The FBI has since joined the investigation, according to law enforcement sources.

The subcontractors

In response to a series of written questions last week, Warnock confirmed that Hudson Strategies had subcontracted some of its work to Mungeer, who was paid through a limited liability company, Solid Solutions, that Mungeer formed in 2010.

It’s unclear whether Mungeer disclosed the payments he received from Warnock’s firm to the PBA’s prior board of directors, or, why the payments were made to his limited liability company rather than directly to him. Michael P. McDermott, an Albany attorney retained by Mungeer, declined to comment, citing the pending investigation.

“On several campaigns involving national issues, transportation, pension divestment and safe banking, in particular, Thomas Mungeer was one of many subcontractors contracted to work on these issues being considered by Congress or the public as a whole,” Warnock said in a statement. Mungeer’s “national network was an asset to find supporting opinion leaders throughout the country.”

Strollo, the union’s attorney, on Saturday issued a statement saying that the “current leadership of the PBA was never made aware of any business relationship between Mr. Mungeer and Mr. Warnock.”

Based on Warnock’s description of the work, it does not appear that Mungeer, who was previously chairman of the National Troopers Coalition, did work for Hudson Strategies related to the PBA. (Mungeer resigned from his position with the National Troopers Coalition following his resignation from the PBA’s executive board.)

Hudson Strategies also did business with what Warnock described as a “national mortgage company.” The funds from that deal, which were transferred from the mortgage company to Hudson Strategies, were subsequently directed to Richard Tschernia, a mortgage and lending broker who has worked for firms that cater to police officers and firefighters. Tschernia is the treasurer of the Signal 30 Benefit Fund.

“Hudson Strategies also performs business development and business-to-business introductory networking services,” Warnock said in response to questions about those transactions. “A national mortgage company was a client for these services in 2019. Richard Tschernia was a subcontractor to work on these issues.”

The national mortgage company, Nationwide Mortgage Bankers, has been a regular advertiser in a magazine published twice a year by the PBA. Richard Steinberg, the company’s founder, did not respond to requests for comment about his work with Warnock’s firm.

The benefit fund

According to its tax filings, Signal 30 has millions of dollars in assets. Much of those funds are donated for causes such as scholarships, to help law enforcement officers injured in the line of duty (or their survivors if they are fatally wounded), to defray medical costs for an officer or family member, or to help someone recover from an unforeseen event like a house fire.

Warnock said that his role as an executive director at Signal 30 “has been one of the proudest accomplishments of my life.”

“The Signal 30 Fund was conceived as an idea by myself and several other PBA members while I was still active with the NYS Troopers PBA in 2006,” he continued. “After I retired in 2008 I dedicated countless hours to building the fund to what it is today. Signal 30 has helped thousands of law enforcement families and their survivors and dependents . ... The Signal 30 fund budgets a $60,000 stipend for its executive directors annually which I do not take and donate the stipend back to the charity.”

Warnock did not respond to follow-up questions regarding how long the charity’s executive directors have been receiving stipends. Ross Piscitelli, Signal 30’s other executive director, did not respond to questions about whether he keeps his stipend, or how long he has received one.

Piscitelli is an attorney and former State Police counsel who went to work part-time for the PBA more than a decade ago after leaving his state employment, according to former PBA officials. Piscitelli’s law firm has also received payments from the union, but it’s unclear what that work involved. He also did not respond to questions about his firm’s payments from the PBA.

In recent months, Signal 30 has sought to distance itself from the PBA and its leaders have asked board members to keep their internal deliberations confidential, according to internal memos shared with the Times Union. The split has included Signal 30 removing the name of the PBA’s president from the web page that lists the fund’s executive board members. Previously, in addition to his name being on that website, Mungeer was listed in the organization’s tax documents as the “president” and “principal officer” of Signal 30.

Despite the organization’s efforts to sever its ties with the PBA, Signal 30’s finances have been interwoven with the union for many years.

The most recently available tax returns filed by Signal 30, from 2020, listed the “reportable (annual) compensation from related organizations” for Mungeer as $28,514.

Also listed on that document is the annual compensation for Richard E. Mulvaney, an attorney and former longtime general counsel for the PBA who abruptly resigned around the time Mungeer stepped down.

Mulvaney’s annual compensation from Signal 30 was listed as $208,280, as well as $20,828 from “compensation from the organization and related organizations.” A former New York Police Department lieutenant, he is listed in the Signal 30 tax documents as a “legal adviser.”

Warnock received almost $80,000 in compensation, according to the same filing.

It’s unclear from the tax filing, however, whether the compensation for the three men was paid by Signal 30 or related to work for the PBA.

There is no salary listed for Piscitelli, Signal 30’s other executive director, in the charity’s most recent federal tax filings. A person who previously worked at Signal 30 said that Piscitelli regularly picked up a paycheck when that person worked there, but that the envelope was sealed and it was unclear from what account the payment was made.

Insurance connections

In October, the PBA board notified its members that it had ended its contract with an insurance brokerage that had ties to Mungeer and Mulvaney.

Both men have stateissued insurance licenses, and their credentials listed the address — and in Mungeer’s case, the business email — of Epic Risk Solutions, the Orange County insurance firm that had its contract with the PBA canceled. The insurance firm’s owner, Michael S. Klugman, told the Times Union last year that neither Mungeer nor Mulvaney received compensation from his company.

But on Nov. 18, the PBA’s board issued a bulletin to its member troopers explaining their decision to cut ties with the insurance firm. In addition to citing Mulvaney’s and Mungeer’s connection to Epic Risk, they wrote that Klugman “confirmed that Richard Mulvaney has a financial interest in the company. These licenses and associations with — and financial interests in — Epic Risk Solutions were not disclosed to the board.”

There are other current and former PBA officials with insurance licenses, including Warnock, who obtained his broker credentials in 2017, and Daniel F. Sisto, who obtained an insurance license in 2016 — a year before he retired from the agency. Sisto, who was a former second vice president for the PBA, formed a political consulting business after leaving the PBA. That company was subsequently paid what a former PBA official said was a “significant” amount of money. (Sisto’s New York insurance license has expired.)

Sisto, in turn, has made payments for lobbying work to Mulvaney as well as Warnock’s Hudson Strategies, according to sources familiar with those transactions. It’s unclear why those payments were made or whether Mulvaney disclosed that information to the PBA’s executive board.

The State Police investigation has been led by the members of a financial crimes unit. The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s office in Albany joined the investigation in recent weeks, according to two people with knowledge of that decision.

Mulvaney and Mungeer both resigned from the organization weeks before the PBA announced in a newsletter to its members in early November that its board of directors was continuing “to review financial practices and business conducted with vendors.”

Strollo, the PBA’s new general counsel, previously told the Times Union the “current leadership team of the PBA is committed to the integrity of the organization and we welcome the Special Investigations Unit’s assistance in uncovering past wrongdoing by individuals that are no longer part of the PBA.”