President Donald Trump pardons former union leader James Callahan, of Lindenhurst, on the eve of his sentencing

President Donald Trump issued a pardon Tuesday to a Long Island-based ex-labor union leader on the eve of his sentencing for failing to properly report $315,000 worth of free tickets to sporting events, concerts and shows, documents show.

James Callahan, 65, of Lindenhurst, the former general president of the International Union of Operating Engineers, pleaded guilty on Jan. 29 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. to knowingly filing false annual reports with the U.S. Department of Labor known as LM-30s.

Callahan was scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes.

Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of 6 months, calling Callahan "one of the most powerful union leaders in the country" while earning salary, benefits and other compensation in excess of $500,000 annually.

But on Tuesday, Callahan's attorneys notified Reyes of Trump's "full and unconditional" pardon and ordered the sentencing hearing be vacated.

The pardon document does not specify why Trump granted Callahan clemency and the Justice Department Wednesday declined a request for comment.

Reyes is holding Callahan’s sentence "in abeyance" — a temporary state of suspension — until prosecutors file a formal request to dismiss the case, court records show.

David Schertler, Callahan's Washington, D.C.-based defense attorney, said in a statement that his client " is extremely grateful for President Donald Trump’s consideration and pardon and the opportunity to get back his life and his reputation after devoting over 40 years to the cause of organized labor and the members of the International Union of Operating Engineers and their families."

Efforts by Newsday to reach Callahan, who prosecutors said has a second home in Juno Beach, Florida and has a net worth of more than $5 million, were not successful.

The Operating Engineers represents nearly 400,000 heavy machinery operators on construction and industrial sites throughout the United States and Canada.

Callahan was a 40-year member and third-generation Operating Engineer, who moved up the ranks of the union and in 2003 led Local 15 in New York City as the group's president and business manager.

From 2011 until his resignation in January following his guilty plea, Callahan has served as head of the union at its headquarters in Washington, D.C.

From 2015 through 2023, Callahan requested from an advertising firm that the union utilized free tickets to nearly 100 shows, games and concerts, along with hospitality packages associated with those live events, prosecutors said.

Those tickets and amenities were worth at least $315,000 and belonged to the Operating Engineers but Callahan did not get approval from the union's executive board to use them, prosecutors said. Callahan used many of those tickets himself and provided others to family and friends, records show.

"Callahan and his family and friends were being entertained by a vendor to whom defendant Callahan had directed more than $4 million in Operating Engineers funds," prosecutors wrote in a May 12 sentencing memo. "Defendant Callahan was well aware of his legal obligation to file accurate LM-30 reports, but determined year after year that his personal interests were better served by keeping the Operating Engineers’ Executive Board and membership in the dark.  That the Operating Engineers were unknowingly funding Defendant Callahan’s spree of pricey entertainments — a lifestyle his substantial salary could easily accommodate — is especially condemning." 

As a condition of his plea, Callahan had agreed to repay the Operating Engineers $315,000 for the tickets and resign as general president.

 The acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia when Callahan pleaded guilty in January was Ed Martin Jr., who now serves as the Justice Department's pardon attorney.  

With The Associated Press 

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.