A seven-term Democratic state assemblyman who also is president of the nation's largest municipal labor council was arrested on federal racketeering charges Tuesday, | “Brian M. McLaughlin was accused of stealing more than $2 million from the state, labor unions and even a Little League fund.” |
Mr. McLaughlin has been under investigation for several years. He is president of the labor council, an umbrella group of unions that has supported Mayor Bloomberg. According to a 186-page indictment unsealed Tuesday, Mr. McLaughlin and others from 1995 through 2006 engaged in racketeering by using money collected for union activities to instead pay personal expenses, including credit card bills, rent and home improvements. There was no immediate comment from Speaker Sheldon Silver or from Mr. McLaughlin's office at the New York City Central Labor Council.