Two former members of the Kansas City-based International Brotherhood of Boilermakers set to go to trial in May pleaded guilty Monday to racketeering conspiracy and embezzlement from a labor organization in an alleged $20 million scheme involving union funds.

Warren Fairley — who took over for a short stint as president of the union in 2023 after its leaders ousted longtime leader Newton Jones — and Jones’ son, Cullen Jones, entered their guilty pleas in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kansas.

Senior U.S. District Judge Daniel D. Crabtree accepted both men’s guilty pleas and set their sentencing for June 30. The racketeering conspiracy count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. The embezzlement count has a maximum penalty of five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $10,000 fine.

As part of the plea deal, the government agreed to dismiss the remaining charges against the men and recommend no fines. Fairley, 61, was ordered to pay $221,348 restitution to the Boilermakers union, and Cullen Jones, 37, must pay $539,713.

The two are among seven former union executives and employees indicted in August 2024 for conspiracy to commit offenses under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, as well as other felonies, 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 defendants are accused of conspiring to steal $20 million in union funds for personal gain.

The money allegedly went toward salary and benefits for jobs they didn’t show up for, tuition, rent, luxury international travel, meals, vacation payouts and unauthorized loans, the Justice Department said.

The case is filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. The union’s headquarters was in Kansas City, Kansas, for more than a century, but relocated in 2023 to Kansas City.

Fairley faced one count of racketeering conspiracy along with seven counts of embezzlement from a labor organization and aiding and abetting.

Cullen Jones was charged with one count of racketeering conspiracy; two counts of embezzlement from a labor organization and aiding and abetting; one count of health care fraud conspiracy and aiding and abetting; and one count of theft in connection with health care and aiding and abetting.

Boilermakers International President Timothy Simmons did not respond to a request for comment about Monday’s guilty pleas.

Dan Sulivan, one of the union’s five international vice presidents, said in a statement to The Star that Fairley’s guilty plea “is not closure, it’s confirmation — confirmation that the membership has been betrayed, that trust was abused, and that people in positions of power failed our union.”

Sulivan, who has been critical of union leadership and recently announced that he is running against Simmons in July, said Cullen Jones’ decision to plead guilty “only adds to the gravity of this scandal.”

“Whether it was to avoid having to testify against his own father or for any other reason, it shows just how deep and ugly this situation has become,” Sulivan said.

“Boilermakers work too hard and sacrifice too much to have their dues tied to corruption, privilege and silence at the top … Our members deserve the truth, they deserve accountability, and they deserve leadership that answers to them, not leadership that protects itself. These guilty pleas help, but there is still a long way to go before justice is fully served.”

Details of the plea hearings

During the plea hearings, which each lasted about an hour, the judge heard numerous examples of how union money was misspent. Fairley admitted to going on overseas trips for meetings when he was an international vice president, including one to England in 2020 with five other union leaders and another to Paris. The trips involved stays in luxury hotels and extravagant meals, he acknowledged.

Fairley told the judge “I sensed it at the time” that the conduct was wrong and that the expenses didn’t benefit the union.

“Each trip we took had some sense of union component,” he said, but added that more people attended than were necessary and “the facilities we stayed at were incredibly lavish.”

In contrast, Fairley noted, when he later became the union’s international president, the officers held all of their meetings in a boardroom in Kansas City.

Cullen Jones told the judge that his father hired him to work for the union in 2007, when he was 19 years old. His annual salary, he said, was $60,000. He was not required to work full time, he acknowledged, and in 2009, he enrolled in a film school in Vancouver, Canada. The union not only paid his tuition, rent, a per diem and travel expenses while at the school, he said, but also continued to pay his $63,000 salary.

Crabtree asked him why the union paid all those costs. After consulting with his attorney, Cullen Jones responded: “It was paid by the IBB (International Brotherhood of Boilermakers) at the direction of the international president at the time, Newton Jones.”

Cullen Jones also acknowledged that he went on expensive trips to Switzerland and Peru that the union paid for, even though he wasn’t working full time. And he said he was suspended in February 2020, then rehired in November 2021 at a salary of $130,000. That salary was later increased to $160,000, he said.

“How did you receive the salary increase?” Crabtree asked.

“At the direction of the international president at the time, Newton Jones,” he replied.

Fairley and Cullen Jones also both admitted to taking vacation payouts that were contrary to union policy.

Others charged in the case

The others charged in the case were Newton Jones and his wife, Kateryna Jones, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina; former International Secretary-Treasurer William Creeden, of Kearney, Missouri; former International Vice President Lawrence McManamon, of Rocky River, Ohio; and former human resources director-turned International Secretary-Treasurer Kathy Stapp, of Shawnee.

The charges allege that over 15 years, Newton Jones and Creeden led the defendants in engaging in widespread embezzlement of Boilermakers’ funds. Jones and Creeden also were charged with wire fraud in connection with their alleged demand and acceptance of “no-show employment” with the union-owned Bank of Labor, the Justice Department said, for which they were paid more than $3.4 million each in salary and benefits.

Stapp pleaded guilty in December 2024 to one count of racketeering conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentenced July 7. As part of her plea agreement, the government dropped the 49 remaining counts against her and agreed not to recommend a fine or restitution.

The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers has about 44,000 members who fabricate and maintain steam boilers and engines for industrial uses in heavy manufacturing, shipbuilding, utility, rail, metal work and construction industries in the United States and Canada.

In 2012, a Kansas City Star investigation found that Jones and other executives were living the good life. Jones’ salary and business expenses totaled more than $607,000, which put him above the presidents of the biggest unions in the country. The newspaper also found that several of Jones’ family members and relatives of other officers were earning hefty union salaries as well.

A follow-up investigation in 2017 found that little had changed. Six-figure salaries were still common for officers and their relatives, as were fine dining, stays in posh hotels and expensive hunting retreats.

The union continued to give high-dollar vehicles as parting gifts for retired employees and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on promotional events and videos — all while membership continued its downward spiral and the union’s pension fund struggled to stay afloat.

Turmoil erupts when union execs oust president

Turmoil that had been brewing within the union’s leadership ranks hit the public radar when the union’s executive council voted to remove Jones as international president in June 2023, accusing him of misusing union funds for personal gain. Among the allegations was that Jones was funneling large sums of money to his Ukrainian wife — who is about 40 years his junior — for work she never performed.

That led to a monthslong court battle over who controlled the union.

In August 2023, a federal judge upheld the union executives’ decision to remove Jones as president and replace him with Fairley, who had recently retired as an international vice president.

Fairley’s reign as president was short-lived. After he was indicted, Fairley announced his retirement as president and was replaced by Simmons, then one of the union’s five international vice presidents.

Another former union official awaits sentencing in a separate racketeering case filed in May 2024.

Tyler Brown, who served as the union’s chief of staff and as special assistant to Jones, pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy. Brown was accused of scheming with “others known and unknown” to steal from the union. His sentencing is scheduled for the same time as Stapp’s in July.

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