Following the dismissal of General Motors’ racketeering lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) by a federal judge, the battle between these automotive giants is escalating once more. Fresh allegations from GM suggest that executives at FCA and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union have been transferring substantial sums of money through foreign bank accounts to artificially inflate the labor costs of GM.
GM’s renewed legal action unveils additional claims against FCA and the UAW, accusing them of engaging in various acts of bribery that directly impacted the automaker. The assertion focuses on the conspiracy between FCA and the UAW to reduce the operational costs of FCA’s workforce while clandestinely channelling funds through offshore accounts holding “millions of dollars.” As a consequence, the lawsuit contends that GM has suffered losses aggregating to billions of dollars.
In a press release, a GM representative stated, “New revelations about the direct harm inflicted on GM by FCA have emerged and are meticulously outlined in our updated racketeering complaint. These fresh disclosures necessitate a revision of the court’s previous ruling, prompting us to respectfully urge the Court to reinstate the case.”
Per legal documents, GM’s investigators have uncovered accounts in numerous countries, including the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Singapore.
Leading the charge in GM’s lawsuit are officials from the UAW, notably former President Dennis Williams (who was recently instructed to reimburse the UAW over $55,000 for improperly claimed travel expenses), ex-President Ron Gettelfinger, and former Vice President Joe Ashton.
Particularly singled out is Ashton, who is depicted as a crucial figure in GM’s claim of harm. Ashton is accused of being an informant, having sat in GM’s boardroom as a UAW representative during labor negotiations in 2015 (subsequently becoming a GM board member). The fresh allegations further implicate Ashton in maintaining an offshore account in the Cayman Islands when FCA was purportedly making bribery payments to senior UAW figures, including prior president Dennis Williams, who endorsed Ashton for the role.
Gettelfinger, retired from UAW since 2010, is also accused of receiving bribes through foreign accounts, both in his name and an unnamed family member’s name. He is also held responsible for enabling unethical leaders to retain authority within the UAW to uphold the cycle of corruption. In a public address to GM, Gettelfinger denounced GM’s lawsuit as a “slanderous and entirely unfounded assault” on himself and his family.
The UAW issued a rebuttal dismissing the allegations and asserting its ignorance regarding any purported offshore bank accounts.
Furthermore, the litigation targets five individuals from Fiat Chrysler’s faction, including former Vice President Alphons Iacobelli, currently serving a sentence of five and a half years for embezzling over $4.5 million from the UAW-Chrysler National Training Center.
In 2018, former UAW President Williams publicly condemned Iacobelli, branding him as a “deceiver and a fabricator” who misused funds on purchases such as a $300,000 Ferrari 458 Spider and two gold pens priced at $35,700 each.
FCA outright rejects the accusations.
“The proposed Amended Complaint by GM reads like a narrative from a low-grade espionage film, rife with ludicrous claims that FCA compensated not one, but two, ‘informant[s]’ to ‘infiltrate GM’ and ‘transport confidential data to [FCA]’ using funds ‘hidden’ in a ‘broad array’ of ‘covert overseas [bank] accounts,'” state FCA’s legal documents filed on Monday. “None of these assertions hold any truth.”
The submission discredits the claims as “atrocious” and lacking substantiating proof.
In July, Federal Judge Paul Borman acquiesced to FCA’s plea to dismiss GM’s racketeering lawsuit following unsuccessful negotiations between GM CEO Mary Barra and FCA Chief Executive Mike Manley. GM’s new accusations have revived the dispute between these two auto giants, a conflict that Judge Borman had previously deemed a “wasteful expenditure of time and resources.”
Have a lead? Drop us a message: tips@thedrive.com
