Former Carpenters union official charged with fraud is in plea negotiations with feds
George Laufenberg, a former high-ranking official with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters union charged for more than $1.5 million in fraud, is in plea negotiations with federal prosecutors, according to a court document.
U.S. District Court Judge Kevin McNulty issued an order on April 18 granting a “continuance of proceedings” through July 18 to give Laufenberg’s counsel “the reasonable time necessary for effective preparation in this matter and to allow the parties to conduct plea negotiations and attempt to finalize a plea agreement.”
Laufenberg is also a former commissioner for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who registered his address as his son’s Hoboken apartment to meet the bi-state agency's Port District residency requirement.
An attorney for Laufenberg did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
A week after McNulty issued the order, a magistrate judge dismissed Laufenberg’s lawsuit against the Northeast Carpenters Pension Fund and several related funds. Laufenberg was seeking money the fund denied to him after his 2016 firing. According to the dismissal, Laufenberg and the defendants agreed to a settlement and each paid their own attorneys fees and court costs.
Context: Laufenberg, a resident of Harvey Cedars, is the former manager of the Carpenters union’s New Jersey/New York benefit funds, overseeing more than $2 billion. The union fired him in 2016, citing “potential violations” of federal securities law.
Laufenberg was indicted by a federal grand jury on five counts in 2019. Federal prosecutors allege he stole from union benefit plans by using his authority to “to self-deal and benefit himself,” granting himself a $120,000 pension and $180,000 in annual deferred compensation in addition to his roughly $300,000 salary. He also allegedly gave a friend a “low-show job” with the funds that included a full salary, pension, annuity contributions and health benefits.
Carpenters controversies: The United Brotherhood of Carpenters is one of the most influential labor unions in New Jersey politics and has been beset by controversy since Laufenberg’s firing.
In a 2018 whistleblower lawsuit, John Ballantyne, the ousted executive secretary-treasurer of the Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters, alleged his local council was dissolved after uncovering malfeasance that had the blessing of some of the international union’s top leaders, including allegations against Laufenberg.
Just months later, Ballantyne and the union settled the lawsuit. But federal prosecutors began investigation the allegations, and in late 2019, a federal grand jury sent subpoenas to several entities tied to the Carpenters union.
