Boiler Unmaker

The Kansas Supreme Court has accepted the voluntary license surrender of an attorney who had been admitted there for slightly over two years

This court admitted Tyler Eugene Brown to the practice of law in Kansas on June 13, 2022. The court administratively suspended Brown’s Kansas law license on October 2, 2024, due to his noncompliance with annual requirements to maintain his law license. The court notes that as of the date of this order, Brown had not paid any of the annual registration and continuing legal education fees related to the administrative suspension of his Kansas law license.

Brown now faces a Kansas disciplinary complaint, and the parties jointly move the court to accept Brown’s voluntary surrender of his Kansas law license under Supreme Court Rule 230(a) (2024 Kan. S. Ct. R. at 287). In support, the parties agree that Brown’s misappropriation of funds from an international labor union commonly referred to as “the Boilermakers Union” constitutes grounds for disciplinary action under the Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct (KRPC). Specifically, they agree that Brown’s actions violate KRPC 8.4(b) (2024 Kan. S. Ct. R. at 430), which provides “[i]t is professional misconduct for a lawyer to . . . commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects.”

This court grants the parties’ joint motion, accepts Brown’s voluntary surrender of his law license, disbars Brown under Rule 230(b), and revokes Brown’s license and privilege to practice law in Kansas.

The Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs had a press release

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.

Allegations involving the President of the union were reported by Kansas Reflector

A former president of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers failed to convince the U.S. Court of Appeals the union’s executive council violated its constitution by removing him from office after being accused of pilfering union funds.

Executive council members asserted Newton Jones of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, used $20,000 in union funds to travel to a second home in Ukraine, paid $100,000 in union funds to his wife while she wasn’t living in the United States and spent $40,000 in union funds for family dining in North Carolina.

The union’s vice presidents, who comprised the executive council, voted to remove Jones as president and expel him from the Kansas City-based International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers. It has tens of thousands of members in the United States and Canada.

Jones, who was later indicted by federal prosecutors alleging he was part of a $20 million embezzlement scheme, challenged the union’s disciplinary proceeding in U.S. District Court in Kansas. He argued the executive council didn’t have power to remove a president from office and that his due-process rights were violated.

However, the district court issued an order of summary judgment affirming the executive council abided by the union’s constitution and respected due-process rights.

Jones turned to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, which issued an opinion last week mirroring the district court’s assessment that the executive council had jurisdiction over union proceedings against Jones and the action taken was reasonable.

“We conclude that we must defer to the interpretations of the executive council,” the appeals court said.

The unanimous opinion by U.S. Circuit Judges Harris Hartz, Paul Kelly and Edwin Bacharach took note of the executive council’s  “outrage” at the situation, but that didn’t mean the tribunal was unfairly driven by factional alliances or intra-union politics.

“It was founded, quite reasonably, on seeing extensive evidence of the alleged misconduct,” the appellate judges said.

In February 2023, union vice presidents John Fultz, Tim Simmons, Tom Baca and Arnie Stadnick attended a meeting in Florida in which they were informed the U.S. Department of Justice was investigating Jones and William Creeden, the union’s secretary-treasurer, for financial misconduct.

Vice presidents on the union’s leadership council convened in May 2023. Vice president Lawrence McManamon opposed the gathering. Fultz, who presented evidence against Jones, recused himself from council votes. The three remaining members agreed to remove Jones from presidential duties.

Jones declined to step down and moved to oust from union positions the vice presidents who opposed him. Jones launched a lawsuit in federal court to nullify the vice presidents’ action.

The union vice presidents filed counterclaims against Jones, his wife Kateryna Jones, and Creeden for violating the union’s constitution, retaliation and breach of fiduciary duty. They sought an injunction removing Jones from office. Later, the vice presidents filed notice that Creeden along with Newton and Kateryna Jones had directed the union to pay them $500,000 for unused vacation.

Before the federal district court could issue a decision regarding motions on summary judgment, Jones retired. He bemoaned the “ugly … smear campaign against me and my wonderful wife,” court records said.

In August, a federal grand jury in Kansas indicted Newton Jones, 71, his wife Kateryna Jones, 32, and his son Cullen Jones, 35, all of Chapel Hill. The list of indicted union officials included Creeden, 76, of Kearney, Missouri; McManamon, 76, of Rocky River, Ohio; former union president Truman Fairley, 60, of Chapel Hill; and former secretary-treasurer Kathy Stapp, 53, of Shawnee.

The defendants entered pleas of not guilty to conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act or RICO. Other counts were tied on health care fraud, theft and wire fraud. The alleged 15-year scheme involved embezzlement of $20 million, the indictment said.

Prosecutors said the conspirators enriched themselves by spending union funds for salary and benefits to no-show jobs, tuition, rent, luxury international travel, meals, vacation payouts and unauthorized loans.

(Mike Frisch)