Boilermakers sue ex-president, demand he repay union nearly $500,000 he ‘misused’
The Kansas City-based International Brotherhood of Boilermakers is suing the president it ousted two years ago, demanding that Newton Jones pay back nearly $500,000 of union money it says he misused.
Filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, the lawsuit says Jones has ignored the union’s order to reimburse the money he’s accused of taking.
“As of the date of this filing, Jones has not repaid a single dollar of the amounts owed,” the suit says.
The lawsuit comes in the midst of a federal corruption case in which Jones, his wife, son and four other leaders are charged with allegedly scheming to steal $20 million in union funds.
The suit says the union’s attorney advised the International Executive Council at a February 2023 meeting in Marco Island, Florida, that the U.S. Department of Justice was investigating Jones and Secretary-Treasurer William Creeden for suspected financial misconduct.
On June 1, 2023, the executive council voted to remove Jones as international president, accusing him of misusing union funds for personal gain — including funneling large sums of money to his Ukrainian wife for work she never performed.
Refused to step down
The executive council expelled Jones from the union, ordered him to turn in all union property and passwords and commissioned a forensic audit to determine how much he needed to repay.
But Jones refused to comply, the lawsuit says. He tried to fire the union officers who voted to remove him and filed a lawsuit against them in federal court in an attempt to reverse his ouster. Those officers then filed a counterclaim, and the court upheld their removal of Jones. He appealed the decision and lost.
Now, the union’s International Executive Council says Jones must reimburse the union for the money it says he misappropriated for personal use, plus interest and legal costs.
The amount Jones owes, the lawsuit says, was determined as a result of the audit, which was done by a nationally recognized CPA firm. The firm conducted a detailed review of union payroll, credit card expenditures, travel and reimbursement records from 2015 to 2023, the suit says.
In accordance with the rules laid out in the union’s constitution, the International Executive Council scheduled an April 24 hearing to determine the exact repayment amount, the lawsuit says. Jones was given more than three weeks’ advance notification of the hearing, it says, but no one appeared on his behalf.
Following a comprehensive report from the lead auditor, the executive council adopted the audit’s conclusions and ordered Jones to immediately remit $460,949.
The lawsuit says that the court has the authority under the Labor Management Relations Act to enforce its decision and enter a judgment against Jones for $460,949 plus $9,888 interest, totaling $470,837. The suit also asks the court to award the union reasonable attorneys’ fees and other costs incurred.
Jones has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and said the executive council had no authority under the union’s constitution to remove him. After an August 2023 hearing, he told The Star that “I’ve done a lot of great things for this union” and said the allegations of financial malfeasance were “all bull----.”
Faces federal racketeering charges
The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers was established in 1880 and is one of the nation’s oldest unions. It represents about 40,000 workers in the United States and Canada who assemble, install and repair boilers, fit pipes and build power plants and ships.
The union’s headquarters was in Kansas City, Kansas, for decades, but relocated to Kansas City several years ago. Jones was the Boilermakers’ international president from 2003 until the union’s International Executive Council removed him.
Jones, his wife, Kateryna Jones, and son, Cullen Jones, all of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, were charged in August 2024 along with former union Secretary-Treasurer William Creeden, of Kearney, Missouri; former International President Truman “Warren” Fairley, of Chapel Hill; former International Secretary-Treasurer Kathy Stapp, of Shawnee; and former International Vice President Lawrence McManamon, of Rocky River, Ohio.
All were indicted for conspiracy to commit offenses under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. They also face other charges, including embezzlement, health care fraud, wire fraud and theft in connection with health care and retirement plans.
A federal grand jury returned the 57-count indictment following an investigation by the FBI Kansas City Field Office and the U.S. Department of Labor.
The charges allege that over 15 years, Jones and Creeden led the defendants in engaging in widespread embezzlement of Boilermakers funds, enriching themselves by spending millions of union dollars for personal gain. The money allegedly went toward salary and benefits for jobs some didn’t show up for, tuition, rent, luxury international travel, meals, vacation payouts and unauthorized loans.
Jones and Creeden also were charged with wire fraud in connection with their alleged demand and acceptance of “no-show employment” with the Bank of Labor, the Justice Department said, for which they were paid more than $3.4 million each in salary and benefits.
All originally pleaded not guilty. Stapp later entered into a plea agreement, and her sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 16. The others are scheduled to go to trial May 4, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.
In a separate case, former union official Tyler Brown pleaded guilty in May 2024 to one count of racketeering conspiracy.
Brown, who served as the union’s chief of staff and as special assistant to Jones, was accused of scheming with “others known and unknown” to steal from the union. His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 14.
