DETROIT (WXYZ) — The simple words from U. S. Attorney Matthew Schneider in Detroit are: “it’s based on greed.”
The feds have the option of starting a civil RICO action that would give them oversight into the UAW.
Schneider says, “We’re on our own timeline.”
They’ve prosecuted plenty of corruption, embezzlement, fraud, bribery, money laundering with 13 charged and 11 pleading guilty without going to trial. That amounts to 9 UAW officials and 3 Fiat Chrysler officials.
At the end of the year, Rory Gamble took over as the new UAW President.
“I’m here to restore integrity,” he told 7 Action News last month.
Former President Gary Jones resigned in the middle of contract talks with Detroit’s Big 3 automakers and the strike against General Motors.
When the UAW started the Article 30 process to oust him, there was evidence outlined the feds didn’t have and the U. S. Attorney says they’re not happy about it.
“There’s information in there the Justice Department had not seen. That’s an indicator somebody knew of wrongdoing and did not report it,” Schneider said.
Todd Flood looked into the RICO Civil process for us and says the key is what happens from here.
Many in the Motor City look back at the storied history when the feds moved in with oversight of the Teamsters Union run by the infamous Jimmy Hoffa. The mob is believed to be behind Hoffa’s disappearance in 1975.
There are no mob ties to the current UAW corruption, but plenty of it charged and convicted by the feds involving millions of dollars.
Flood tells 7 Action News, “Here it’s nefarious activity within its own bedroom, within its own house. And those nefarious actors are the mob.”
