Forte
- A Phila. effort to counter the departed Dad Vail
- CityCenter raises stakes on the Vegas Strip
- Killer of Officer Chuck Cassidy sentenced to die
- Appeals Court: School district can ban Christmas carols
- N.J. won't enforce flu-shot mandate
- Get started collecting your family stories
- Tragic mystery: How did John Lewis become a killer?
- Nepal begins a ritual in blood
- Claims against Phila. VA up to $58 million
- Boxer's death ruled accidental
- Obama taps Penn's Gutmann to lead bioethics panel
- Body of missing N.J. fisherman found in N.C.
- Your life, by personal historians
- Comcast's holiday show is a breakout in 3-D
- Pottsgrove students mourn classmates killed in crash
- Beach repairs at risk in restrictive Shore towns
- Wyeths' work up for auction
- Dan Gross: Sports talker opening comedy club
- Fallen boxer's organs will give life to others
- Sports Authority, Nintendo team up to sell Wii Fit as fitness equipment
- Holiday train shows take Obama homes on board
- 23-year coma victim talking, or no?
- Boat owner's body found
- John Lewis was unlike many killers, but in prison he'll slip into a familiar pattern
- Officer Cassidy's killer sentenced to die; defendant asks forgiveness, is rebuffed by widow
- Parade taking a new route
- Boxer dies in Blue Horizon bout
- Camden again ranks worst on crime list
- Gunshot victim Brinkley renews NFL quest
- Shooter cop was investigated for multiple citizen complaints
RELATED STORIES
Delco union boss pleads guilty in loan kickback scam
Faced with 154 counts in a fraud and bribery indictment, Anthony Forte had refused to step down as president of United Aerospace Workers Local 1069, one of Delaware County's largest labor unions.
Even as his trial date approached, Forte maintained his innocence - at least publicly - while helping the union negotiate a contract at Boeing's sprawling Ridley Township plant, where workers crank out Chinook and Osprey helicopters for the U.S. military.
Yesterday, Forte changed his mind, admitting to U.S. District Judge Berle Schiller that he had helped run an illegal kickback scheme while serving as executive vice president of the Boeing Helicopters Credit Union.
"He just wanted to accept responsibility for his conduct and be held accountable," said his attorney, Brian McMonagle. "He's extremely remorseful for what he did."
Forte's guilty plea comes a month after the nearly 1,800 members of Local 1069 ratified a new five-year contract with Boeing.
Prosecutors say that Forte, his brother and six others pocketed $105,000 through kickback fees on $2.54 million in credit-union loans to unqualified applicants.
Before the scheme, applicants had to work at the Boeing plant or be an employee's immediate family member to get a loan. But Forte, as the credit union's vice president, created a new membership category called the Select Employee Group, which allowed nonemployees to receive loans if their company became an approved SEG member.
Forte, who was in charge of finding companies for SEG, told loan processors to disregard applicants' credit problems and other information that could jeopardize their loan, the feds said.
According to the indictment, filed in September 2008, some loan applications listed phony relatives and included inflated incomes. Those who received $20,000 loans had to kick back as much as $1,000.
McMonagle said he did not know if Forte would immediately step down as UAW president. A message left at the union hall late yesterday was not returned.
Forte, who was elected to the union post only months before he was indicted, made political waves last year in Delaware County after he snubbed the outgoing UAW boss, John DeFrancisco, by endorsing his Republican opponent in a state House race.
Forte's sentencing on loan fraud, bank bribery and conspiracy charges is scheduled for early next year, McMonagle said.
