Teamster Chief Denies Role in Finance Scheme

Teamsters President Ron Carey denied any part in an illegal fund-raising scheme to help finance his election campaign and said he and his union were “ripped off” by unscrupulous consultants. “If there is a victim here, I certainly am the victim,” he said. Carey’s campaign manager, Jere Nash, and two other associates pleaded guilty in a New York federal court last week to conspiring to divert funds from the union’s treasury through third-party organizations and into Carey’s campaign coffers. All three are cooperating with prosecutors and with the election overseer who must decide whether Carey will be disqualified from a rerun election.