Edward Mullins, Former President Of NYPD Sergeants’ Union, Pleads Guilty To Defrauding Union And Its Members

 

 Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that EDWARD MULLINS, the former President of the Sergeants Benevolent Association (“SBA”), the union that represents all current and former Sergeants of the New York City Police Department, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud in connection with a scheme to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from the SBA through the submission of fraudulent expense reports.  MULLINS pled guilty before United States District Judge John G. Koeltl. 

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Edward Mullins promised to look out for the thousands of hard-working NYPD Sergeants who are members of the SBA.  Instead, as admitted in federal court, he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from them to fund his lavish lifestyle. Thanks to the hard work of the FBI, Mullins’s betrayal has been exposed, and he now faces jail time and significant financial penalties.”

According to the Information filed in the case and statements made in court:

The SBA is the fifth-largest police union in the United States with its headquarters located in lower Manhattan.  The SBA’s membership consists of all active and retired Sergeants of the NYPD, with approximately 13,000 members.  From 2002 until October 2021, EDWARD MULLINS served as President of the SBA.

Beginning in 2017, MULLINS devised a scheme to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from the SBA.  MULLINS used his personal credit card to pay for meals at high-end restaurants and to purchase luxury personal items, among other things, and then submitted false and inflated expense reports to the SBA, representing that his charges were legitimate SBA expenditures when in fact they were not.  MULLINS routinely included meals on his expense reports that were not SBA-related.  MULLINS also inflated the costs of his meals – whether SBA-related or not.  For example, if the actual cost of a meal was $522.55, MULLINS would seek reimbursement from the SBA for $822.55 and pocket the difference.  MULLINS would also take personal expenses like supermarket bills and claim them on his expense reports as SBA-related meals for which he also sought reimbursement.

MULLINS’s fraudulent expenses were paid through the SBA’s Contingent Fund, which is funded primarily through annual dues paid by SBA members.  In total, MULLINS stole at least $600,000 from the SBA through the filing of hundreds of fraudulent expense reports.

MULLINS, 61, of Port Washington, New York, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.  As part of his plea agreement, MULLINS agreed to forfeit $600,000 to the United States and to make restitution in the amount of $600,000 to the SBA.

The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.  MULLINS is scheduled to be sentenced at 12:00 p.m. on May 25, 2023, by U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the FBI/New York City Police Department Public Corruption Task Force.