General Motors on Monday asked a U.S. federal judge to reinstate a racketeering lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), saying it has new details on foreign accounts used in an alleged bribery scheme involving its smaller competitor and union leaders.
In its filing to U.S. District Judge Paul Borman, GM says the scheme, which it accuses occurred between FCA executives and former United Auto Workers (UAW) leaders, “is much broader and deeper than previously suspected or revealed as it involved FCA Group apparently using various accounts in foreign countries … to control corrupt individuals by compensating and corrupting those centrally involved in the scheme to harm GM”.
Last month, Borman turned down the racketeering lawsuit, saying GM’s alleged injuries were not caused by FCA’s alleged violations.
GM alleged FCA bribed officials of UAW over many years to corrupt the bargaining process and gain advantages, costing GM billions of dollars. The automaker was seeking “substantial damages” from FCA that one analyst said could have amounted to at least $6 billion.
“These new facts warrant amending the court’s prior judgment, so we are respectfully asking the court to reinstate the case,” GM said.
“FCA will continue to defend itself vigorously and pursue all available remedies in response to GM’s attempts to resurrect this groundless lawsuit,” FCA stated.
In affidavits accompanying GM’s filing, attorneys for the automaker said “reliable information concerning the existence of foreign bank accounts” used in the supposed scheme had only come to light after the last lawsuit was dismissed.
UAW said that they are unaware of any allegations regarding illicit off-shore accounts as claimed by GM. “If GM actually has substantive information supporting its allegations, we ask that they provide it to us so we can take all appropriate actions.”
