Another corrupt former UAW president has been sentenced to prison, as union members’ dues continue to pay for their ‘culture of corruption.’
Former United Auto Workers’ President Gary Jones was sentenced on Thursday to 28 months in prison for his role in the misuse of millions of dollars of union members’ dues.
According to ABC News:
He plotted to steal up to $1.5 million in union dues, and the money he diverted was spent on golf clubs, vacation homes, booze and lavish meals, fostering a culture of corruption within the United Auto Workers union.
Now former UAW president Gary Jones will have to spend 28 months in a federal prison and repay thousands of dollars for his crimes.
Jones, 64, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Paul Borman in Detroit after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy last year. Borman ordered that Jones surrender for his term in 90 days and recommended a low-security federal prison in Seagoville, Texas, so he would be close to his wife who now lives near Dallas.
Jones’ sentencing to prison occurs nearly a month to the day that his predecessor, former UAW President Dennis Williams, was also sentenced to twenty-one months in prison.
Union members’ dues continue to pay for corrupt officials’ actions
Jones was part of a multi-year conspiracy of UAW bosses who, according to a 2019 affidavit, engaged in “embezzling, stealing, and unlawfully and willfully abstracting and converting UAW funds to purchase luxury items and accommodations for their own personal benefit.”
Earlier this year, as part of a settlement deal with federal prosecutors, the United Auto Workers were appointed a federal monitor to oversee the union’s efforts to rid itself of corruption.
The federal monitor’s fees will be paid through UAW members’ dues.
In addition to the millions stolen from UAW members for such things as booze, cigars, golf and lavish meals, millions in union dues will now go toward funding the court-appointed monitor, and the UAW had to pay significant attorney’s fees for officials who were charged, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Gardey told the court.
At the time of Williams’ sentencing, the U.S. Attorney’s office stated:
UAW officials concealed hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenditures in the cost of UAW conferences held in Palm Springs, California, Coronado, California, and Missouri. Between 2010 and 2018, former UAW President and co-defendant Gary Jones and other UAW officials submitted fraudulent expense forms seeking reimbursement from the UAW’s Detroit headquarters for expenditures supposedly incurred in connection with UAW leadership and training conferences. In truth, however, Williams and his co-conspirators used the conferences to conceal the hundreds of thousands of dollars in UAW funds spent on lavish entertainment and personal spending for the conspirators.
As part of his conviction, Williams admitted the he and other senior UAW officials used UAW money to pay for personal expenses, including multi-month long stays at private villas in Palm Springs, cigars, golfing apparel, green fees at golf courses, and high-end liquor and meals. During the course of the conspiracy, while Williams was UAW President, co-conspirators Gary Jones, Vance Pearson, and others provided themselves and Williams with thousands of dollars in such personal items. [Emphasis added.]
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