PRESS RELEASE

Former Boilermakers Union Chief of Staff Pleads Guilty to Racketeering Conspiracy

Thursday, May 23, 2024

A Missouri man pleaded guilty today to racketeering conspiracy in connection with his involvement in serious financial misconduct at an international labor organization.

According to court documents, Tyler Brown, 44, of Kansas City, Missouri, was employed by the Kansas City, Kansas, headquarters of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmith, Forgers, and Helpers (the “Boilermakers Union”) as chief of staff of the Boilermakers Union and special assistant to the International President of the Boilermakers Union. From 2013 through October 2022, Brown reported directly to the International President and carried out his directives. Between those dates, Brown was involved in numerous instances of unlawful misappropriation of union funds, including:

• purchasing merchandise and hundreds of restaurant meals for the International President and his wife in their hometown that were not necessary to conduct union business or benefit the union or its members;
• employing several family members of international officers who received several hundred thousand dollars in salary, reimbursed expenses, unearned vacations, and benefit contributions for minimal or no productive work; and
• paying for dozens of international trips to Europe, Asia, and Australia for large entourages of international officers and employees of the Boilermakers Union, their families, and outside guests whose travel was not necessary to conduct union business or benefit the union or its members.

Brown is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 22 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Kate E. Brubacher for the District Kansas; Assistant Director Michael Nordwall of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; Special Agent in Charge Stephen A. Cyrus of the FBI’s Kansas City Field Office; and Denver-St. Louis District Director Christiane Abendroth of the Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards made the announcement.

The FBI and Department of Labor are investigating the case. 

Trial Attorney Vincent Falvo of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Faiza Alhambra and Jabari Wamble for the District of Kansas are prosecuting the case.