UPDATE, 11:45: Documents show Santeramo allegedly steered BTU funds to the political campaigns of both Hillary Clinton and Alex Sink.
Original post, 10:59:
Prosecutors announced last November that they were investigating Patrick Santeramo, who was then president of the Broward Teachers Union. Now, the shoe hath dropped: Squarely onto Santeramo's ass.
He turned himself in this morning after the Broward State Attorney's Office filed charges that include racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, five counts of campaign contribution violations, four counts of money laundering, six counts of grand theft, and three counts of organized scheme to defraud.
Prosectors say Santeramo used his "unilateral control of the union's business" to "systematically divert approximately $165,500 to himself through an invoice-kickback scheme with a construction company." In one case, investigators reportedly discovered that when the BTU paid a company $90,000 to repair their building's elevators, the company turned around and gave $20,000 of it to Santeramo.
In addition, Santeramo is accused of organizing a group of 25 people (that included BTU members) to make campaign contributions to candidates, then reimbursing them with union funds.
Waiting on more documents for details on these charges. Here's a round-up of what he's accused of; first-degree felonies can get you 30 years in prison, second-degree is 10 years, third-degree is 5 years.
First-degree felonies:
Racketeering
Conspiracy to commit racketeering
Grand theft
Organized scheme to defraud
Second-degree felonies:
Organized scheme to defraud
Third-degree felonies:
Grand theft x 5
Illegal campaign contributions x 4
Money laundering x 4
Organized scheme to defraud
First-degree misdemeanor:
Illegal campaign contributions
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