A former union official was sentenced Wednesday to serve 30 months for identity theft and failure to file tax returns.
U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson ordered Nathan Y.G. Lum, 62, of Honolulu, to 30 months of imprisonment and one year of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay restitution of more than $314,100, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Hawaii.
Wednesday’s sentencing follows pleading guilty to aggravated identity theft in connection with theft of government funds and failure to file a tax return on March 28, 2019.
According to court documents and information presented in court, Lum was the former division director of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142, Longshore Division (ILWU).
From 2011 through 2017, according to the press release, Lum willfully failed to file any federal or Hawaii tax returns that should have reported his income from the ILWU and other sources. In failing to do so, he failed to pay the IRS and state taxes totaling more than $280,700. In most years, Lum earned over $200,000 from the ILWU, according to the office.
In addition, Lum failed to report approximately $90,000 in payments that he received personally from California-based Relativity Media company in 2012 and 2013 in connection with efforts to secure Hawaii tax credits from the state Legislature while he was an official of the ILWU, according to the press release.
Further, after Lum’s father passed away, between 2013 and 2016, Lum forged his father’s signature on over 50 checks that Lum wrote from his deceased father’s bank account and deposited into Lum’s personal account. In total, Lum obtained approximately $33,435 in his father’s Social Security benefits that were used for his personal expenses, according to the press release.
“The sentenced imposed today holds Lum accountable for his flagrant violation of federal law. It sends a message to all in Hawaii that no one in Hawaii, regardless of position or privilege, is above the law. Those who hold positions of trust, such as leaders of Hawaii’s public and private sector unions, are fully accountable for their conduct, and when they intentionally violate federal law, my Office will work with law enforcement to ensure that there are consequences,” US Attorney for the District of Hawaii Kenji M. Price said in the press release.
