Ex. Sen. Thomas Cullerton Admits He Was Teamsters Ghost Employee

CHICAGO — Former Illinois State Sen. Thomas Cullerton pleaded guilty to embezzlement Tuesday, admitting that he spent several years as a “ghost employee” of the Teamsters labor union.

Cullerton, 52, continued to serve in the Illinois Senate after his August 2019 indictment on 41 criminal counts, including a count of conspiracy to embezzle from a labor union and employee benefit plans, one count of making false statements in a health care matter and 39 counts of embezzlement from a labor union.

The Villa Park Democrat had been due to stand trial in April. Instead, Cullerton negotiated a plea agreement and, last month, he resigned from the senate seat he had held since 2013.

Federal prosecutors charged Cullerton shortly after former Chicago Teamsters boss John Coli pleaded guilty to extortion and agreed to cooperate with the feds in connection with a scheme to pocket secret cash payments from the Cinespace movie studio in Chicago.

With Coli’s help, Cullerton was hired as an organizer for Park Ridge-based Teamsters Joint Council 25. Coli told the feds that he knew the arrangement was illegitimate. He went on the Teamsters payroll several weeks after being sworn into office and remained there for about three years.

During that time, Cullerton collected about $188,000 in salary and benefits. The Teamsters also contributed about $64,000 in benefits payments, and the state senator made nearly $21,700 in medical claims from the union healthcare plan, according to his plea agreement.

“Although Cullerton received the above-referenced benefit between in or around March 2013 and in or around February 2016, Cullerton did little to no work each pay period in return for these benefits,” the agreement said.

Assistant United States Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu said Cullerton was a “virtual no-show at work,” and that his supervisors would have testified that he was “invariably unavailable,” “blew-off” efforts to contact him and “never showed up to work.”

“Tellingly, one of the union supervisors did not even realize that [Cullerton] had remained on the payroll over the course of three years,” Bhachu said in a response to pretrial motions.

The terms of his plea deal call for a recommended sentence of 12 to 18 months in federal prison.

Cullerton, who is a distant cousin of former Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, also agreed to pay back about $250,000.

The conviction also prevents the former state senator from serving in certain roles related to labor organizations and employee benefit plans for a period of 13 years following his conviction or the end of any term of incarceration.

Cullerton’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 21.

Earlier: Illinois State Sen. Cullerton Resigns, Will Accept Plea Deal