The glamorous public life of Monica Morgan

DETROIT -- The public life of international photojournalist Monica Morgan is unquestionably glamorous.

Over the course of her more than 30-year career, Morgan has photographed -- and been photographed with -- countless celebrities. A published columnist and entrepreneur, Morgan has traveled around the globe, flying first class in designer clothing.

Morgan's high-profile lifestyle is now under the microscope as her name surfaced in an indictment last week alongside that of her late husband, former UAW Vice President General Holiefield -- as perpetrators of a multimillion dollar embezzlement scandal.

With Alphons Iacobelli, Fiat Chrysler's former labor-relations chief, Morgan and Holiefield are accused of criminally violating the National Labor Relations Act over an alleged scheme to pilfer over $1.2 million from the UAW-Chrysler National Training Center in Detroit and steer the money to Holiefield, Morgan and other high-ranking members of the union. Iacobelli, who is to be arraigned Tuesday, is suspected of pocketing $1 million. As many as eight more people could be named as parties to the embezzlement plot.

The indictment charges that prohibited payments occurred between 2009 and 2014, while Holiefield was the senior UAW officer responsible for negotiating with FCA, and in a relationship with Morgan.

Morgan on Monday had a not guilty plea entered on her behalf and was released on a $10,000 bond Monday following her arraignment in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Monday. She also relinquished her passport.

Morgan had a high-visibility presence in Detroit long before meeting Holiefield. She graduated from Wayne State University in 1985, on a full academic scholarship after graduating from Cass Technical High School in Detroit. Two years later, she started her own business, Monica Morgan Photography.

Morgan captured iconic Detroiters on camera, such as Rosa Parks and Aretha Franklin. She covered South Africa's first all-race elections in 1994 and Nelson Mandela's presidential inauguration that May.

"The photography, which all I do at that time was push a button and an image came out, and they said they would pay me for that," Morgan said in an interview with the Michigan Chronicle, the same publication that once ran her lifestyle column. "Also, having a capitalistic nature, the Michigan Chronicle originally did not pay me for my first articles, but they paid me for my photographs."

After Holiefield's death, Morgan wrote an article for Detroit's B.L.A.C. magazine reflecting on their relationship and his presence in the automotive industry. She describes meeting him and falling in love at the height of her photojournalism career.

"I was a shell of a woman married to my career, running toward bombs to create newspaper front pages, risking my life to photograph the devastation of Katrina and aftermath of 9/11," Morgan wrote. "General took me by me hand, told me he didn't play house and wanted to marry me. He said, 'Someone loves you, and you're not chasing any more bombs.'"

In 2012, she wed Holiefield not once but twice: once domestically in February, and a second time abroad in Venice, Italy, that summer.

"The day was magical," she told Detroit News freelance columnist Chuck Bennett. "We rode a water-taxi to the ceremony, where [Holiefield] sang Bebe and Cece Winans' song, "When I Found You" to me. It brought tears to my eyes because he is truly my soulmate."

According to the column, the couple honeymooned in Athens, Naples, Rome, Livorno, Istanbul, Toulon and Barcelona.

All the while, three of Morgan's companies -- Monica Morgan Photography, Wilson's Diversified Products and a third company -- were used to conceal payments made by Iacobelli, the federal indictment said. The income for those business, the indictment said, were not reported on her individual tax returns.

While Holiefield received between $126,171 and $167,033 in compensation annually from the UAW, according to the union's annual disclosures with the U.S. Department of Labor, the indictment says Morgan, Iacobelli and others siphoned money from the training center into Holiefield's Leave the Light On Foundation. Holiefield ordered "the majority of operating funds spent by" the foundation between 2009 and 2011 to go to Morgan, who used them at stores, nightclubs and restaurants, the indictment said.

The money -- slated to provide education, training and retraining of UAW workers -- funded designer clothing, jewelry, furniture and paid off the $262,219 mortgage on Holiefield and Morgan's residence in the Detroit area, the indictment says.

He showered her with gifts and vacations. To the public, the couple seemed to want for nothing. During her relationship with Holiefield, the two traveled extensively. Airfare for trips to San Diego, Miami, Las Vegas and Los Angeles cost the union$30,000. The couple spent four nights at The Beverly Hills Hotel, at $3,100 each night, according to the indictment.

On Feb. 9, 2013, Morgan posted an image astride an elephant in Thailand.

"Memories....when General made one of my dreams come true...to ride an elephant in its natural habitat.....in Thailand....what's one of your dreams????" the post read.

On June 11, 2014, Morgan sits side-saddle on a customized Harley Davidson motorcycle in a photo she shared to Instagram.

"General wants me to have my own Chopper...what do you think of this one? #he spoils me #everyday is Christmas," the post read.

Her marriage to Holiefield seemed a fairy tale, marred only by an incident in the third year of their marriage.

On Dec. 25, 2014, Morgan posted a photo of the two of them on Facebook, captioned: "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, from our home to yours."

Five days later, Holiefield shot his wife in their home, when he was cleaning his gun at the kitchen table. According to the report, the gun accidentally discharged around 8:30 p.m. A month after, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

"A single round was fired, which struck his wife in the abdomen," said Lt. John Michalke with the Macomb County Sheriff's Office at the time.

"I'm healing ... my husband and my family have gone through a traumatic experience with me … your prayers and they brought me through with God's direction," she wrote on Facebook a week later.

Several months later, Holiefield died in 2015, at 61, of pancreatic cancer.

"Many days, I just want to stay in the bed," Morgan said after his death. "But I get up and work on a plan to keep his legacy alive. Our story is not over."