Former Union Lawyer Accused of Claiming $100K in Fake CLE Expenses

A former general counsel for a Teamsters union has been accused of collecting $211,000 by submitting false expense reports for bogus CLE classes, law books never purchased and shipping at a UPS store that doesn’t exist.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan announced the indictment of Amherst, N.Y., lawyer Kevin Clor on Wednesday, report the Buffalo News, the Associated Press, the New York Post and Thomson Reuters News & Insight. Clor, 40, currently works at the mortgage law firm of Steven J. Baum, according to Thomson Reuters. The law firm is closing after it was barred from doing work for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Clor was formerly general counsel for New York State Thruway Employees Local 72. He is accused of submitting the faked expenses to the union over a five-year period, including:

• More than $100,000 in education classes from a high school, a state agency and a Wisconsin foundation.

• $22,000 for law books at Thomson Reuters, some of which don’t exist.

• $37,000 for copying and mailing at a UPS store that doesn’t exist at the claimed address.

Clor’s lawyer, Jeremy Saland, tells AP the indictment is “filled with misinformation” and “there is no fraud whatsoever.”