A former New York State Trooper was convicted of pilfering hundreds of thousands of dollars from union members — and using the funds on a trip to see the Dallas Cowboys, on a sailing outing and on a Lexus, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Kenneth Wynder Jr., 59, was found guilty of conspiracy and wire fraud by a Manhattan federal jury Tuesday for stealing from the Law Enforcement Employees Benevolent Association (LEEBA), which he founded and was the president of.
Andrew Brown, a 55-year-old former financial advisor for LEEBA, was convicted alongside Wynder for the scheme the pair ran from 2012 through 2020 — netting them some $500,000 during just a five-year period, prosecutors said.
The pair stole, embezzled and misappropriated money from the union’s Annuity Fund and from individual members’ retirement accounts — making hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent transfers, the feds said.
Some members’ accounts were completely wiped out because of Wynder and Brown’s theft, prosecutors alleged.
Wynder, of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, regularly cut excessive checks to himself and made cash withdrawals from the fund. He bought himself a Lexus, flew to Dallas, Texas to watch the Cowboys play and took a sailing trip — all on the union’s dime, prosecutors said.
Wynder didn’t report these perks to the tax authorities, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
He and Brown, of Putnam Valley, New York, repeatedly lied to managers, auditors and accountants of the retirement plan, to the union members and to prospective members about how they were using the funds, the feds said.
Steven Whittick, the one-time treasurer of LEEBA, took a plea deal and was sentenced to two-years-and-four months in prison for making off-the-books payments to himself and Wynder from 2015 through 2019.
Wynder hid over $400,000 of these payments from the tax authorities, prosecutors said.
He was also convicted of tax evasion and conspiracy.
“As the jury unanimously found, Kenneth Wynder and Andrew Brown raided a union-sponsored retirement plan for years, placing their personal interest over the union members they were duty bound to look out for,” Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
Wynder and Brown each face up to 20 years in prison at their Oct. 18 sentencing.
Wynder’s lawyer, Ying Stafford, said they will appeal the conviction but declined to comment further. Brown’s lawyer didn’t return a request for comment Wednesday.
Whittick’s lawyer Joey Jackson told The Post his client served as treasurer “admirably and in the spirit of public service, loving his job and the members he worked hard for daily.”
“Ultimately, he made some poor decisions for which he took full responsibility,” Jackson said. “He pled guilty to his transgressions, paid his debt to society, and is presently rebuilding his life with the support of his wife and family.”
