11th Guilty Plea In Widening UAW Corruption Probe
Another former United Auto Workers union executive has pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
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Another former United Auto Workers union executive has pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Jeffrey Pietrzyk, once a co-director of a joint center for human resources run by the UAW and General Motors Co., is the 11th person charged or convicted to date. He is expected to be sentenced in March.
The U.S. Dept. of Justice has been investigating financial wrongdoing involving the union for more than three years. The probe initially centered on illegally diverted funds earmarked for a training center run by the union and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV.
At least eight people—two from FCA and five from the union—were convicted in that phase of the investigation.
Pietrzyk’s plea comes two months after federal prosecutors in Detroit filed charges of wire fraud and money laundering against Michael Grimes, a former board member of the GM-UAW center. The Justice Dept. says the two men conspired with an unnamed third UAW official to reap millions of dollars in kickbacks and bribes from vendors who supplied promotional products to the union.
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