Hudson Valley man gets jail time for stealing $500K from retirement accounts

Putnam County resident Andrew Brown, age 56, of Putnam Valley, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defrauding members of the Law Enforcement Employees Benevolent Association (LEEBA), a labor union for law enforcement officers employed by New York City, the US Attorney's Office for Southern District of New York announced on Wednesday, Jan. 17.

* Earlier Report - $500K Scheme: Putnam Valley Man Stole From Retirement Accounts

According to federal officials, Brown and former LEEBA President and New York State Trooper Kenneth Wynder, Jr. of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, participated in a scheme to defraud union members by stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the organization's Annuity Fund, which held money for individual members' retirement accounts.

As part of this scheme, between 2012 and 2020, the duo would fraudulently transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars from the fund to LEEBA's operating account, which was controlled by Wynder in his role as President.

Wynder would then use these funds for his own benefit at the expense of union members, including making unauthorized checks and cash withdrawals to himself. Wynder also spent these funds on a new Lexus automobile, a trip to Dallas to watch a Dallas Cowboys football game, and a sailing trip, federal officials said. None of these purchases were properly reported to the Internal Revenue Service as required.

Additionally, Wynder would also use the transferred funds to pay insurance benefits, which Brown, the founder of a Westchester-based financial services company, would receive commissions for.

Wynder and Brown would also accomplish their scheme by making false statements to a third-party retirement plan manager who served as the custodian for the Annuity Fund and members' individual retirement accounts. Between 2014 and 2019, the duo withdrew over $500,000 from individual retirement accounts, wiping out entire balances of certain members' accounts in the process.

Throughout this time, the duo would also make and approve false statements to LEEBA's members about how they were using their retirement accounts. Wynder even went as far as to have LEEBA fail to file mandatory reports and financial disclosures with New York City and public reports to the Annuity Fund's members and make false statements to auditors and accountants.

Brown and Wynder were both convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud. In addition to his prison sentence, Brown will have to forfeit $3,049 and pay $529,000 in restitution.

Wynder, age 60, was sentenced to a 40-month prison term and will have to forfeit $529,000 and pay $838,683 in restitution.

US Attorney Damian Williams commented on the case: "Kenneth Wynder and Andrew Brown raided union-sponsored retirement accounts for years, placing their self interest over the hard-working public servants they represented as the president and financial advisor of the union, respectively."

"Union officials and advisors who violate their duties to the union members they represent will face serious consequences for their abuse of trust," Williams continued.