March 3, 2021—Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) admitted to its role in paying millions of dollars of personal expenses for senior union officials, the Detroit Free Press reported.
At one time portraying itself as a victim of a corruption scandal involving the United Auto Workers, FCA general counsel Chris Pardi said Monday that from roughly 2009 to 2016, “one or more persons acting in the interests of FCA US agreed to pay and deliver and willfully paid and delivered more than $3.5 million in prohibited payments and things of value to officers and employees of the UAW.”
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, now part of Stellantis since the merger with Peugeot-maker PSA Group this year, pleaded guilty via Zoom in U.S. District Court in Detroit to one count of conspiring to violate the Labor Management Relations Act. The company agreed to pay $30 million and submit to an independent compliance monitor for three years. Sentencing is officially scheduled for June 21.
