Current UAW President Rory Gamble has been leading efforts to revamp the union’s accounting practices, hoping to regain the trust of members.
The investigation into kickbacks and bribery within the UAW is widening as federal agents are said to be looking into links between newly appointed UAW President Rory Gamble, former VP Jimmy Settles and a union vendor.
The Detroit News reported that the probe is focusing on potential cash kickbacks or bribes given by a Detroit-area supplier to the UAW in order to secure a contract to supply union-branded merchandise. The News cited two sources familiar with the investigation.
Agents are looking into a tip that the vendor met with UAW officials at a Detroit-based strip club to make the cash payments.
(Feds claim past UAW Presidents Jones, Williams involved in a racketeering enterprise)
The UAW has been subject to an ongoing probe by federal agents for financial mismanagement by at least a dozen other high-ranking former UAW officials, including past presidents Gary Jones and Dennis Williams. At this time, neither Jones nor Williams have been charged; however, FBI agents earlier this summer raided Jones’s Detroit-area home as well as a UAW property frequented by Williams.
Rory Gamble took over for Jimmy Settles as vice president for the UAW’s Ford Department, before he was appointed president, serving out Jones’ term.
Gamble, who had been a vice president and led the UAW’s Ford Department succeeding the aforementioned Settles, has started to implement a variety of changes to the organization’s accounting methods and financial oversight. He denies any wrongdoing.
“I would not have accepted the role of president if I couldn’t withstand the scrutiny,” Gamble, 64, said in a statement to The News.
“Our union has suffered enough as a result of corrupt leaders. On my watch, we cannot and will not allow financial improprieties to rob our members of their hard-earned dollars. My sole focus as president is to strengthen the union’s financial controls, oversight and accounting system — and most importantly, to restore the trust of our union members.”
(Former UAW President Jones resigns from union)
Earlier this week, prosecutors suggested Jones and Williams participating in a “racketeering enterprise” that embezzled more than $1.5 million in union funds. Jones, who succeeded Williams, resigned from his post during the middle of the negotiations with Detroit automakers.
The new charges were leveled in new court documents filed as part of the preliminary hearing in the government’s case against former UAW Region 5 executive Vance Pearson.
Former UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles has been swept up in the federal investigation into the union.
The hearing in front of the federal magistrate in Detroit was delayed at the request of Pearson’s attorney, who apparently is attempting to negotiate a plea deal on behalf of his client in exchange for his testimony against other union officers, including Jones and Williams.
Court documents claimed from at least in or about 2010 and continuing through September, 2019, Pearson and Edward N. Robinson, a colleague of Pearson’s, who also is now facing federal criminal charges, did “unlawfully, knowingly and willfully combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with each other and with other individual known and unknown to commit offenses against the United States.”
(FBI Widens UAW Investigation, Raids Current, Former UAW Presidents’ Homes)
Five other union officers or officials identified as UAW Officials A, B, C, D and E in court documents, also participated in the conspiracy. UAW Official A is thought to be Jones while Official B is thought to be Williams, given the clues scattered through the court papers the U.S. Attorney began filing more than two years ago.