Maritime Union Leaders Sentenced

The leader of a national maritime union was sentenced Thursday to 6 1/2 years in prison for spending organizational funds on personal luxuries, including a bachelor party and repairs for a dive boat.U.S. District Judge James Cohn sentenced Michael McKay, 59, to 6 1/2 years, and McKay’s brother, Robert, 56, to 15 months.

The McKays were found guilty in December of racketeering conspiracy and several lesser charges stemming from their time as president and secretary-treasurer, respectively, of American Maritime Officers.

Robert McKay received a lesser sentence because he was not as deeply involved as his brother in the fraudulent use of union funds, Cohn said.

Michael McKay defended his tenure as president at the hearing.

”I have served this union for a lot of years,” he said. ”I believe I leave it in better shape than when I took it over.”

Robert McKay could have made a deal with prosecutors and gotten a lighter sentence, but he was not willing to testify against his brother, said Robert McKay’s attorney, Fred Haddad.

Michael McKay was ordered to forfeit more than $2 million to the U.S. government and to pay the union $275,000. Robert McKay must turn over about $510,000 to the government and $260,000 to the union.

Under federal law, both men are barred from holding union posts for 13 years after their release from prison.

NEW YORK TIMES