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. Al Iacobelli was the head of labor relations at Fiat Chrysler and co-chairman of the UAW-Chrysler National Training Center in Detroit. Training center credit cards paid for more than $30,000 in meals for UAW officials at various restaurants in Southern California, the government said. The government’s investigation began at the training center but stretched to other corrupt acts at the UAW. Fiat Chrysler US is a subsidiary of Stellantis, a company created by the merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Peugeot.

A federal judge in Detroit said Friday that he will not reconsider his July dismissal of General Motors racketeering lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. U.S. District Judge Paul Borman wrote in an opinion that new evidence presented by GM regarding bribes and foreign bank accounts is too speculative to warrant reopening the case. GM alleged that FCA used foreign bank accounts to pay bribes to former United Auto Workers Presidents Dennis Williams and Ron Gettelfinger, as well as Vice President Joe Ashton. It also alleges that money was paid to GM employees including Al Iacobelli, a former FCA labor negotiator who was hired and later released by GM. GM said the payments were made so the officials would saddle GM with more than $1 billion in additional labor costs.

GM alleges that payments were made so the officials would saddle GM with more than $1 billion in additional labor costs. GM alleged that accounts apparently exist in Gettelfingers name, and the name of a relative in Panama and Switzerland. In July, U.S. District Judge Paul Borman in Detroit tossed out GMs lawsuit that alleged that Fiat Chrysler paid off union leaders to get better contract terms than GM. In a 2019 lawsuit, GM alleged that Fiat Chrysler bribed officials of the United Auto Workers union to get lower labor costs. GM alleged that FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne, who died in 2018, wanted to pressure GM into merging by weakening it with higher costs.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – A former Fiat Chrysler financial analyst who federal prosecutors say helped illegally funnel worker training funds over a number of years pleaded guilty in the case. Jerome Durden entered the pleas Aug. 8, 2017, in U.S. District Court in Ann Arbor to charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and failure to file a tax return. As part of a plea agreement, he faces up to 37 months in prison. Prosecutors in July 2017 announced charges. Former Fiat Chrysler executive Al Iacobelli was indicted in an alleged conspiracy involving United Auto Workers union vice president General Holiefield and Holiefield’s wife, Monica Morgan.