The plea agreement details at least two specific occurrences that raise concerns about the alleged payments influencing union business.
The first, feds say, occurred in December 2013. Iacobelli, according to the plea deal, sent an email to another "FCA executive" confirming then-UAW Vice President General Holiefield, now deceased, had been "scripted" ahead of a meeting with other members of the union's International Executive Board.
Iacobelli, in the email, said Holiefield would "create a dialogue pursuant to our outline." At the time, the executive board was considering the terms of a multibillion-dollar offer to purchase equity interest held by the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, or VEBA, in Chrysler Group, now known as FCA US. The transaction was completed a month later.
The second occurrence allegedly occurred in February and March of 2015. FCA, according to the plea, offered to pay confidential "one-time non-precedent setting" retirement offers to "senior UAW officials."
An unnamed union official allegedly said in an email that his people would "process the transactions to keep them out of the plants."
Things such as "targeted buyouts" are not uncommon, however, they are typically based on job classification, department or years of seniority and not exclusively offered to handpicked senior leaders.