ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michael Grimes, who worked as an assistant in the UAW's General Motors department, pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court here to wire fraud and money laundering charges.
Count one was the conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, which carries up to 20 years' imprisonment. The second count, conspiracy to commit money laundering, carries up to 10 years imprisonment.
Federal recommended sentencing guidelines range from 46 to 57 months.
U.S. prosecutors say Grimes conspired with two unidentified senior UAW officials on multiple schemes going back to at least 2006. Grimes, according to prosecutors, pressured a vendor of custom UAW logo products into giving him a $60,000 mortgage and periodic bribes totaling nearly $900,000.
The prosecution's criminal information against Grimes says the trio also arranged for the same vendor to sell the joint UAW-GM training center 50,000 "Team UAW-GM" jackets for $6 million in 2011 and 55,000 backpacks for $5.8 million in 2016. Grimes got the vendor to give him more than $1 million in kickbacks for those orders, according to the prosecution.
Grimes used bribe payments to buy, among other things, a 2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited along with property in Florida.
Grimes, who retired last year, said in court that he was dealing with a financial burden.
His attorney, Michael P. Manley, said after the proceedings that Grimes is devastated by his actions. Manley -- no relation to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Michael M. Manley -- added that Grimes was crushed by what he has done to the union's reputation.
Manley said people don't want to hear excuses, they want accountability, and that was what Wednesday's guilty plea was about.
Manley said Grimes accepting responsibility for his actions is the first step to redemption.
Grimes' next court appearance is set for Jan. 11 in Detroit.
The UAW said "the conduct admitted by Mr. Grimes in his plea today is shocking and absolutely disgraceful."
"In June 2018, as part of our Clean Slate reform agenda, the UAW adopted and reaffirmed a strict three-bid process for vendor purchasing, a policy that must be followed by all UAW officials and employees, and similar strict bid-process policies have been implemented at the Joint Program Centers, to ensure this type of conduct cannot be repeated," the union said in a statement. "That is among the stronger reforms and financial controls that have been adopted by the UAW and each of the Joint Program Centers."
The union said it "will not be distracted from fighting for our members and negotiating strong labor agreements with General Motors, Ford and FCA."
Nick Bunkley contributed to this report.
