Maryland Union Leader Convicted on Eight Money Laundering Counts in Nearly $1 Million Scheme
A federal jury in Greenbelt, Maryland, has convicted Kimberly Goodwin, 54, the former president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2419, of participating in a wire fraud conspiracy and eight counts of money laundering.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced the verdict on 31 August 2026. Goodwin led AFGE Local 2419 from January 2017 to August 2019, when the union represented about 500 federal employees of the National Institutes of Health.
Nearly $1 million moved through a sham consulting company
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, approximately $1 million received from NIH through multiple employee grievance lawsuits was transferred into the Local 2419 bank account under Goodwin’s authority.
DOJ said Goodwin retained signatory control over the union account even after her term as president ended in 2019. She then moved the funds to a consulting company she owned.
Between 2019 and 2022, prosecutors showed that approximately $1 million was transferred through a series of bank transfers, wire transfers and cash withdrawals into Goodwin’s own account. The government said the consulting firm either provided no services for the payments or invoiced amounts far above the true value of services rendered.
Evidence at trial also showed that Goodwin secretly introduced new rules into the union’s bylaws that enabled her consulting company to receive payments for purported work involving training, contract negotiations and collective bargaining. DOJ said Local 2419 had not held a meeting since 2020 and ultimately ran out of money and entered receivership in 2022.
Prosecutors also presented evidence that Goodwin used union funds for personal purchases, including a $7,400 massage chair.
Second conviction in the case
Goodwin is the second defendant convicted in the case. Kelleigh Williams, the former Secretary-Treasurer of AFGE Local 2419, was convicted in 2025 of wire fraud conspiracy for her role in the scheme.
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General’s National Capital Region Office of Investigations. Trial attorneys from the Justice Department Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section are prosecuting the case.
The verdict is a conviction, not merely an allegation or charge. The DOJ announcement did not specify a sentencing date.
The case illustrates how apparently legitimate organisational accounts and vendor relationships can be used to move misappropriated funds through bank transfers, wires and cash withdrawals, making governance over signatories, related-party vendors and unusual payment patterns relevant financial-crime controls.
