Edward D. Mullins, the combative longtime leader of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, quit his union job and retired from the Police Department last year amid scandal.
The former president of a powerful New York City Police union surrendered to the authorities on Wednesday to be charged with wire fraud in Manhattan, according to two people briefed on the matter.
The former union president, Edward D. Mullins, the combative longtime leader of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, has been accused of inflating his union expenses — for meals and other items — by $1 million over four years, according to one person who had knowledge of the matter.
In some cases, the person said, Mr. Mullins inflated expenses for meals involving union-related business. In others he obtained reimbursement for meals with his family that did not involve union business.
Marc L. Mukasey, a lawyer for Mr. Mullins, declined to comment on Wednesday. The F.B.I. and the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan also declined to comment.
The prosecution represents the latest chapter in the swift collapse of the career of Mr. Mullins, a once influential police union official who retired on Nov. 5, the same day officials announced he had been found guilty of two departmental infractions and fined $32,000 for violating rules governing the use of social media.
In one message Mr. Mullins had posted on Twitter, he made public a police report involving then-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s daughter. In others, he used vulgar language to denigrate city officials.
Mr. Mullins had quit his union position a month earlier, hours after his Long Island home and the union’s Manhattan headquarters were raided by F.B.I. agents. At the time, the union issued a statement acknowledging the search and saying that Mr. Mullins was “apparently the target” of a federal investigation.
The union said in its statement that it had “no reason to believe that any other member” was “involved or targeted in this matter.”
The union represents about 13,000 active and retired police sergeants in New York.
Mr. Mullins was expected to appear before a federal magistrate judge later on Wednesday.
