The former financial advisor for a New York City police union has been sentenced to a year and a half in prison for his role in a scheme that raided the union's annuity fund, prosecutors announced.
Andrew "Drew" Brown, 56, a resident of Putnam Valley, N.Y., and former advisor, benefits administrator and insurance broker for the Law Enforcement Employees Benevolent Association (LEEBA), was also ordered to pay $529,000 in restitution and forfeit $3,039.
Also sentenced in the case was the former president of the union, Kenneth Wynder Jr., 60, of Stroudsburg, Pa., who was ordered to serve 40 months in prison, pay $838,683 in restitution and forfeit $529,000.
Brown and Wynder were convicted after a five-day jury trial in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in May.
Furthermore, Wynder and colleague Steven Whittick, the union’s former treasurer, were found guilty of tax evasion on income they received from the union.
The LEEBA represents New York City law enforcement officers in the city's departments of environmental protection, sanitation and transportation, according to the union's website.
Wynder and Brown “raided union-sponsored retirement accounts for years, placing their self-interest over the hard-working public servants they represented. … Union officials and advisors who violate their duties to the union members they represent will face serious consequences for their abuse of trust,” Damian William, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.
According to the charges, between 2012 and 2020 Wynder and Brown transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars from the annuity fund, which operates like a 401(k) for union members, to the union’s operating account, which Wynder controlled. Wynder then used those dollars to enrich himself and Brown, partly by paying Brown bogus commissions.
In the five years between 2014 and 2019 alone, it’s estimated that the pair misappropriated more than $500,000 from the fund, according to prosecutors. Some of that money was used to buy Wynder a Lexus and pay for vacations.
The court also found Wynder and Brown guilty of making false statements about withdrawals from the annuity fund.
The annuity fund received monthly contributions from New York City coffers for the benefit of LEEBA members, with separate accounts for each participant, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Wynder was a fund trustee, and Brown was an administrator of the fund as well as its financial advisor.
The fund was intended solely for supporting members’ retirement accounts, less administrative expenses, the statement said.
Wynder was a former New York state trooper and a founder of LEEBA who occupied several positions of authority within the union, which enabled him to make decisions about the fund, often without proper approval from other trustees, according to prosecutors.