Federal investigators have subpoenaed security camera footage and visitor logs from the Solidarity House for the day a fire damaged the UAW’s headquarters.
For the last several years, the top brass of the United Auto Workers has been under federal investigation for corruption and embezzlement.
Thus far, the investigation has nabbed in several high-ranking UAW officials, causing some to go to prison, as well as forced the union’s president to resign last month.
Now, according to the Detroit News, investigators have “subpoenaed security camera footage and visitor logs from the United Auto Workers’ Solidarity House for the day a fire damaged the union’s headquarters.”
“A team of federal agents from the FBI, Internal Revenue Service and Labor Department served the grand jury subpoena on the UAW within days of the July 13 fire at the UAW’s riverfront headquarters along East Jefferson Avenue, according to two sources familiar with the investigation.”
Two firefighters were injured in the blaze that took place last July, reported the Detroit Free Press at the time.
The fire occurred in the UAW’s IT department and also damaged an adjacent public relations office space, UAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg stated in July.
“Details about the subpoena surfaced two weeks after U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider faulted the UAW for failing to cooperate with investigators and accused union leaders of withholding information,” notes the Detroit News.
“The Department of Justice is very suspicious about that fire if they’re asking for video and visitor logs. They’re concerned records may have been destroyed in the fire, and God forbid if it was arson,” said Peter Henning, a Wayne State University law professor and former federal prosecutor. “If evidence was destroyed, that’s obstruction of justice.”
Although fire officials had stated they did not think the cause of the fire was arson, on Tuesday Detroit Deputy Fire Commissioner David Fornell stated the cause of the fire was “still under investigation.”
Related:
- WATCH: As Another UAW Boss Pleads Guilty, An Angry Union Member Sounds Off
- SHOCK: UAW Leaders Turn On Each Other In Corruption Investigation
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