UAW President Jones, predecessor implicated in accusations of misuse of funds, reports say
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September 16, 2019 12:00 AM

UAW President Jones, predecessor implicated in accusations of misuse of funds, reports say

Nick Bunkley
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    A photo on the Region 5 Facebook page shows UAW President Gary Jones, left, and regional President Vance Pearson at a golf event in 2018. A criminal complaint says UAW leaders spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on leisurely vacations and golf clubs, among other expenses.

    DETROIT — New allegations of corruption last week against the UAW's leadership by federal investigators landed just days before the union's contracts with the Detroit 3 were set to expire, adding chaos to an already difficult set of negotiations.

    The president of the union's Region 5, which covers Missouri and 16 other Western and Southwestern states, was arrested and charged with conspiring to embezzle UAW funds. U.S. Justice Department prosecutors said Vance Pearson and other UAW leaders misused hundreds of thousands of dollars on leisurely vacations in California, golf clubs, lavish meals, cigars and $440 bottles of champagne. UAW President Gary Jones and his predecessor, Dennis Williams, are among the officials implicated, sources told The Detroit News and Reuters, although they were not identified by name in the criminal complaint against Pearson, 58.

    Jones was the head of Region 5 before Pearson. Investigators said Pearson and the other officials disguised their spending as being related to a Region 5 leadership conference held each January from 2015 through 2018, which matches the period when Jones was in charge of the region.

    "It has become clear that there are individuals at the top level of the International union who have broken the sacred oath they took to serve our great membership," the leaders of UAW Local 249, which represents a Ford Motor Co. plant in Missouri, said in a statement posted Friday, Sept. 13, on Facebook. "The damage these corrupt officials have caused to our union's reputation is devastating."

    The union, in a statement Thursday, Sept. 12, called the allegations "very concerning" but argued that the government had "misconstrued any number of facts." General Motors, which the UAW selected as the lead company in this year's contract negotiations, said in a statement the allegations amounted to "a stunning abuse of power and trust."

    The UAW had hoped to put the long-running federal probe and convictions of several former officials behind it by electing Jones president in 2018 and enacting a "clean slate" agenda of reforms.

    But in August, the FBI raided Jones' home in suburban Detroit, a Michigan union retreat and multiple other locations. A document filed with the charges against Pearson last week said agents took more than $30,000 in cash and a set of Titleist golf clubs from the home of a person identified as "UAW Official A."

    That official is Jones, sources told The Detroit News, and the seized clubs matched some of those bought with UAW funds in 2016 and 2017 at a Jack Nicklaus-designed course in Missouri. Agents also found a similar set of clubs at Pearson's office.

    Related Article
    Excerpts from the feds' allegations

    The accusations painted a gaudy picture of the union's "upper echelon" living it up on members' dues for months at a time under the auspices of attending conferences and participating in other business-related activities.

    Although the conferences officials attended typically lasted three to five days, some officials spent at least a month staying in "off-site condominiums and villas with private pools and hot tubs in gated communities" on the union's dime, investigators said. For the conference in January 2016, which lasted five days, the UAW paid more than $11,000 for a person identified as "UAW Official D" to stay in a villa for 67 days and more than $15,000 for "UAW Official B" to stay in a villa for 105 days.

    Tallying the bills

    Federal investigators say UAW officials arranged for master billing accounts at several hotels that allowed them to pay for expenses from other local businesses through the hotels and submit the invoices to the union's headquarters for reimbursement. Among those expenses:

    Palm Springs, Calif.
    More than $1 million spent at the Renaissance Palm Springs Hotel from Aug. 15, 2014, to June 7, 2017, ostensibly related to the annual Region 5 Leadership Conference.

    Property rentals

    • Villas for UAW Official A and UAW Official B for 31 days to attend the 2014 conference
    • Villas for UAW Official A for 34 days, UAW Official B for 37 days and UAW Official D for 37 days to attend the 2015 conference
    • Villas for UAW Official D for 67 days at a cost of over $11,000, UAW Official B for 105 days at a cost of over $15,000 and UAW Official A for 63 days at a cost of over $10,000 to attend the 2016 conference
    • Villa rented by Vance Pearson, with UAW Official B as the listed occupant, for about 121 days at a cost of over $20,000 to attend the 2017 conference

    Meals

    • Johnny Costa's Ristorante, Dec. 29, 2016: $2,079, including "multiple glasses of Crown Royal XR (Extra Reserve) at $40 a glass, a drink that Crown Royal Distillery describes as 'the rarest in our extra rare whiskey series'?"
    • LG Prime Steak House, Dec. 31, 2016: $6,599.87, including $1,942 for liquor, $1,440 for wine, $1,760 for four bottles of Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne and a $1,100 tip
    • Johnny Costa's Ristorante, Jan. 3, 2017: $2,292.65, including "multiple glasses of Crown Royal XR and Macallan" 18-year-old Scotch whisky at $40 a glass
    • LG Prime Steak House, Jan. 5, 2017: $4,827.77, including $25 glasses of Macallan 17-year-old scotch and eight $180 bottles of Duckhorn Three Palms Merlot

    Golf

    • More than $80,000 at Indian Canyons Golf Resort on food and beverages, greens fees (including almost $9,000 on 107 rounds of golf before and after the 2015 conference), club rentals and apparel

    Cigars

    • More than $60,000 on cigars, humidors and related items from 2014 through 2018


    Coronado, Calif.
    More than $395,000 to Loews Coronado Bay Resort for the Region 5 Community Action Program Conference, including:

    • More than $25,000 to Access Destinations for "high-end meals and excursions in 2015 and 2016"
    • More than $70,000 to Showtime Golf from 2015 through 2018


    Lake Ozark, Mo.
    More than $490,000 to Lodge of Four Seasons for Region 5 training and staff meetings, including:

    • More than $45,000 on meals and liquor
    • More than $75,000 on golf greens fees, merchandise and Titleist clubs
    • $8,000 on spa treatments
    • $1,000 at a gun range
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