CHICAGO (CBS) — Illinois State Sen Thomas Cullerton resigned from office on Wednesday as his defense attorney told a federal judge he plans to plead guilty to charges he took more than $250,000 in salary and benefits in a ghost-payrolling scheme involving the Teamsters labor union.
Cullerton, a Democrat from Villa Park, was indicted in 2019 on one count of conspiracy to embezzle from a labor union, 39 counts of embezzlement from a labor union, and one count of making false statements.
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According to the indictment, Cullerton conspired with former Teamsters boss John Coli to arrange for a do-nothing job with the union in 2013.
Coli pleaded guilty to extortion charges just days before Cullerton was indicted.
Federal prosecutors said Cullerton was a member of Teamsters Local Union 734 before he was elected a state senator in 2012, and after taking office was no longer eligible to participate in the union’s health and pension funds.
Two months after taking office in 2013, the president of Teamsters Joint Council 25, based in Park Ridge, hired Cullerton as a union organizer, with a full-time salary, as well as health and pension benefits from Local 734, according to the feds.
Federal prosecutors said, for the next three years, Cullerton did little or no work as a union organizer, and routinely ignored requests from Teamsters supervisor to do his job. During that time, he was paid approximately $188,000 in salary, bonuses, and cell phone and vehicle allowances, and...
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