Union Officer to Plead Guilty to Embezzlement: U.S. Attorney

PROVIDENCE, RI —Richard D’Antuono of Cranston will plead guilty to charges that he embezzled between $250,000 and $550,000 in union funds, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Monday. D'Antuono, 42, is a former union official who served as business manager and financial secretary for a Rhode Island plasters and cement mason’s union local. He was the only full-time officer of the Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International Association Local 40.

According to federal court documents, beginning in 2015, D’Antuono allegedly embezzled funds from two accounts. One was a union operational account. The other was an apprentice fund — a type of employee benefit plan used to finance training programs for apprentice plasterers and masons, and for the retraining or refresher training of journeymen union members.

The scheme worked like this: D’Antuono allegedly made checks out to himself substantially in excess of his salary and a stipend to which he was entitled. In some instances, he had the authorized signatories sign blank checks, which he later used to embezzle funds from the operational account. In other instances, D’Antuono forged the signature of the authorized signatories on checks. Additionally, it is alleged that D’Antuono embezzled funds from the Apprenticeship Fund by writing checks payable to the Local 40 operation account and then embezzling the funds in the same manner.

He's being charged with embezzlement from a labor organization, embezzlement from an employee benefit plan and aggravated identity theft.

According to the U.S. Attorney's office, embezzlement from a labor organization is punishable by statutory penalties of up to 5 years imprisonment, a fine of $10,000 and a term of supervised release of 3 years. Embezzlement from an employee benefit plan is punishable by statutory penalties of up to five years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, and a term of supervised release of three years. Aggravated identity theft is punishable by statutory penalties of mandatory term of two years imprisonment in addition to the sentence imposed on the embezzlement charges.

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