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Gary Jones: (Photo: Facebook/UAW)
Gary Jones, the disgraced past United Auto Workers president, pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring with other high-level union officials to embezzle over $1 million of union dues. Some money went toward lavish expenses, including more than $13,000 on cigars for high-level officials.
The federal court plea in Detroit could bring the union one step closer to federal oversight, something the Teamsters experienced for 25 years, starting in 1989, after decades of Mafia influence. The UAW had often been held out as a major union with honest leadership. But that all changed in recent years with an ongoing federal probe that has resulted in a series of indictments of high-ranking officials.
“With UAW President Gary Jones’ guilty plea today, we move into a new phase of the Justice Department’s investigation of the UAW," said U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider in a statement. "While our criminal cases and the investigation of criminal conduct by individuals and entities continue, we will shift our focus to reforming the UAW so it serves the working men and women of the union first and foremost.
"I look forward to meeting with UAW President Rory Gamble as soon as possible to have these important discussions.”
A union statement says: "President Gamble looks forward to meeting Prosecutor Schneider. The UAW has made significant changes since Mr. Jones resigned and continues to look at ways to reform."
Jones, 63, of Texas, pled guilty to one count of conspiring to embezzle UAW dues money and conspiring to use a facility of interstate commerce to aid racketeering crimes between 2010 and September 2019. He also pled guilty to tax evasion and causing the UAW to file false tax returns.
"I apologize to my UAW family for this betrayal of trust and pray that they will forgive me," Jones said via a remote video appearance during the hearing, according to The Detroit News. Federal courts are closed for health safety.
Jones' lawyer, Bruce Maffeo, urged UAW officials to start cooperating: "Gary stepped forward and accepted responsibility for his actions and [has] done everything he can to make amends," Maffeo wrote in a statement Wednesday. "The UAW would be well-advised to follow his lead."
Under his plea agreement, Jones, who is cooperating with the ongoing federal probe, likely faces 46 to 57 months in prison.
Between June 2018 and November 2019, Jones served as the union president, representing more than 400,000 active and about 580,000 retired members. Prior to becoming president, he was director of UAW Region 5 and a member of UAW’s International Executive Board.
During the guilty plea hearing, Jones admitted to conspiring with at least six other high-level UAW officials in a multi-year conspiracy to embezzle money from the UAW for their personal benefit.
Jones and other union officials concealed personal expenditures in the cost of UAW Region 5 conferences in Palm Springs and Coronado, Calif. and the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.
From 2010-18, Jones and other UAW officials submitted fraudulent expense forms to the UAW’s Detroit headquarters for costs supposedly incurred in connection with Region 5 leadership and training conferences. But in reality, Jones and others used the conferences to conceal hundreds of thousands of dollars in UAW funds spent on lavish entertainment and personal spending.
Specifically, Jones and others used union funds for golf clubs, private villas, cigars, golfing apparel, green fees at golf courses and high-end liquor and meals.
In just one year, Jones used UAW money to buy more than $13,000 in cigars for high-level UAW officials. He also admitted embezzling from a UAW community fund.
