DETROIT — New tips about corruption within the UAW have come in to federal authorities in recent days, U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said Tuesday.
Schneider also said the UAW has not adequately cooperated with the yearslong federal investigation of the union, citing new evidence of wrongdoing by former President Gary Jones divulged by the union last month. Schneider contends that the union should have reported such evidence to his office proactively.
Schneider did not specify what his office had not previously known, but information released Nov. 21 by the union's executive board in an effort to remove Jones and Region 5 Director Vance Pearson included a previously unreported allegation that Jones let his daughter use a UAW-rented townhouse in Palm Springs, Calif. Jones and Pearson have since resigned.
"What we really would want is cooperation from the UAW," Schneider, the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Michigan, said in an interview. "When I'm reading for the first time in the newspaper about criminal activity that hasn't been reported to the Justice Department, that's not helpful cooperation."
The union provided the evidence against Jones and Pearson to the U.S. attorney's office at the same time it made the information public, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Schneider said he's "still waiting to see" more cooperation from the UAW's acting president, Rory Gamble.
"Active cooperation isn't, 'Ask us questions and we'll answer them,' " he said. "Active cooperation is, 'We want to help you; here's what we know.' In order for this to be a more successful relationship, that's what we're looking for."
Schneider made his first public comments about the UAW investigation to The Detroit News last week and has since granted interviews with other media outlets. He said the interviews have led to a number of tips from the public that have produced new information in the case as recently as Tuesday.
Schneider wouldn't discuss specifics of the case and walked back previous comments to the News saying the investigation was about halfway completed.