Head of Maritime Union Is Indicted in Fraud Case
The president of a national union of merchant fleet officers, his brother and two other people were indicted on federal charges of election-rigging, embezzlement and fraud, prosecutors in Miami said.
The 13-count indictment names Michael McKay, 58, national president of the American Maritime Officers Union, and Robert McKay, 55, the union’s national secretary-treasurer. Union employee James Lynch, 55, and former employee Phillip Ciccarelli, 64, also were charged.
The union represents about 4,000 maritime officers who serve aboard U.S.-flagged merchant vessels, including cruise ships. Prosecutors said the McKays conspired in 1993 and 1996 to rig the union’s elections by stuffing ballot boxes and destroying ballots cast for their opponents.
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