A U.S. District Court levied a $30-million fine on Fiat Chrysler Automobiles US following the automaker’s guilty plea to a charge of conspiracy to violate the Labor Management Relations Act, in a case involving bribery of United Auto Workers officials. The plea and the fine were agreed in a settlement the automaker entered into earlier this year.
A federal investigation that began in 2017 found that FCA bribed several UAW officials with more than $3.5 million in cash and other goods, as part of FCA’s effort to gain concessions in labor negotiations with the union.
The automaker also agreed to hire an independent compliance monitor for three years to oversee the dissolution of an FCA training facility where the collusion was focused.
Federal judge Paul Borman said the imposed sentence imposed “reflect(s) the seriousness of the offense, promote(s) respect for the law, and provide(s) just-punishment for the offense to adequately deter criminal conduct from any other corporations or executives of corporations considering such criminality.”
The federal investigation has led to convictions of 15 people, including two past UAW presidents and three FCA executives.
