Detroit, Michigan – Stellatis, formerly Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, pleaded guilty to bribing United Auto Workers (UAW) officials between 2009 and 2016, and the automaker will pay a $30 million fine to settle the case with the U.S. Department of Justice. The company will also hire an independent compliance monitor to ensure it follows labor laws, effectively putting it on probation for the next three years.
For more than a year, federal prosecutors have convicted or won guilty pleas from more than a dozen UAW and Stellantis officials who accepted more than $3.5 million in bribes in the form of extravagant, meals, rounds of golf, lavish parties, an Italian-made shotgun, designer clothing, and home mortgage payments. Automaker officials would pass payments through the UAW-Chrysler National Training Center, a joint project between the automaker and union to provide job training for workers.
As details of the bribery scheme emerged, General Motors in late 2019 sued then-FCA, saying that by bribing union officials to craft a contract that favored FCA, they put GM at a disadvantage. A judge last year threw out that suit.
U.S. Attorney Schneider said, “No matter the size or importance of a company, our job in the Justice Department is to faithfully enforce federal law. This proposed guilty plea ensures that FCA will be held accountable. With a $30 million fine, three years of probation, and a court-appointed monitor, we seek to make sure similar crimes do not happen at the company again.”
The UAW settled charges against the union late last year in a deal that also calls for an independent monitor.
“Instead of seeking to negotiate in good faith, FCA undermined the collective bargaining process and the UAW members’ rights to fair representation,” said Irene Lindow, special agent-in-charge, Chicago Region, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General.
The fifteen individuals convicted of fraud and corruption crimes include:
- Former UAW Vice President Joseph Ashton: 30 months in prison
- Former FCA Vice President for Employee Relations Alphons Iacobelli: 66 months in prison
- Former FCA Financial Analyst Jerome Durden: 15 months in prison
- Former Director of FCA’s Employee Relations Department Michael Brown: 12 months in prison
- Former senior UAW officials Virdell King: 60 days in prison
- Keith Mickens: 12 months in prison
- Nancy A. Johnson: 12 months in prison
- Monica Morgan, the widow of UAW Vice President General Holiefield: 18 months in prison
- Former UAW Vice President Norwood Jewell: 15 months in prison
- Former senior UAW official Michael Grimes: 28 months
The following UAW officials have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing:
- Former UAW President Gary Jones
- Former senior UAW official Jeffrey Pietrzyk
- Former UAW Region 5 Director and UAW Board member Vance Pearson
- Former UAW Midwest CAP President Edward “Nick” Robinson
- Former UAW President Dennis Williams.