Fiat Chrysler agrees to plead guilty, pay $30M in UAW probe

DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles US has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $30 million fine for a corruption scandal at the union that represents its factory workers, authorities said Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors in Detroit charged the company with conspiracy from 2009 to 2016. The government said company representatives gave more than $3.5 million in cash and other things of value to senior officials at the United Auto Workers.

Details of the payoffs have been public for a few years and acknowledged during guilty pleas by FCA employees and others.

Fiat Chrysler spokeswoman Shawn Morgan confirmed the company’s planned guilty plea and fine.

Al Iacobelli was the head of labour relations at Fiat Chrysler and co-chairman of the UAW-Chrysler National Training Center in Detroit. The government said he signed off on $262,000 to wipe out a mortgage held by UAW vice-president General Holiefield, who was the centre’s other co-chairman.

Iacobelli also approved $25,000 from the training centre for a party for union vice-president Norwood Jewell and the UAW’s international executive board, the criminal charge states.

Training centre credit cards paid for more than $30,000 in meals for UAW officials at various restaurants in Southern California, the government said.

An indictment returned in 2017 said Iacobelli and others set up a liberal policy for credit cards to keep union officials “fat, dumb and happy.”

Iacobelli was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison in 2018, but the sentence was recently reduced by 18 months due to his co-operation.

The government’s investigation began at the training centre but stretched to other corrupt acts at the UAW. Eleven officials have been convicted, including two former union presidents. Investigators found that union dues were used to pay for golf, booze and vacation villas in California.

The UAW recently agreed to have an independent monitor watch union finances and operations.

Fiat Chrysler US is a subsidiary of Stellantis, a company created by the merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Peugeot.

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Follow Ed White at http://twitter.com/edwritez

Ed White, The Associated Press

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