Ex-NYPD Union Chief Ed Mullins Faces Fraud Charge

NEW YORK CITY — A controversial former Sergeants Benevolent Association chief lived high off the hog by defrauding his NYPD union of nearly $1 million, federal authorities said.

Ed Mullins surrendered himself to law enforcement Wednesday to face a wire fraud charge connected to accusations he dipped into union dues to fund a lavish lifestyle.

The accusations were detailed in a blistering, 14-pagecriminal information document that states Mullins since 2017 used union funds to pay for hundreds of high-end meals, clothing, jewelry, home appliances and even a relative's college tuition.

"As alleged, Edward Mullins, the former President of the SBA, abused his position of trust and authority to fund a lavish lifestyle that was paid for by the monthly dues of the thousands of hard-working Sergeants of the NYPD," said Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney who charged Mullins, in a statement. "Mullins submitted hundreds of phony expense reports to further his scheme, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the SBA."

The criminal charges are connected to an FBI raid on Mullins' home in Port Washington during October.

Mullins stepped down from his long-held post as union president soon after the raid.

The FBI kept quiet about the investigation into Mullins until he surrendered to authorities Wednesday.

Prosecutors accused Mullins of submitting inflated expense reports for items he claimed were union expenditures, but were actually personal.

He made at least three types of misstatements in his expense reports: charging meals that weren't SBA-related, inflating meal costs and taking personal expenses like supermarket bills and claiming them as SBA-charged meals, the document states.

"In other words, for example, if the actual cost of a meal was $522.55, Mullins would seek reimbursement from the SBA for $822.55, and pocket the difference," the document states.

"Through all of these false statements, Mullins received more than $1 million dollars in expense reimbursements from the SBA, the majority of which was fraudulently obtain," the document states.

This is far from the first controversy Mullins faced, although his wire fraud charge carries up to 20 years in prison if he's convicted.

The ex-union chief faced legal action in July over Twitter posts in which he called then-congressional candidate Ritchie Torres a "first-class w----" and health commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot a "b----."

It appears the SBA has since deleted thousands of tweets, with just 95 published as of 11 a.m. Wednesday, despite years on the platform and a previous count of more than 6,000.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.