Deals

GM Sues Fiat Chrysler, Alleging Corruption Undermined Its UAW Deals

GM alleges the late CEO conspired with UAW to attempt takeover
Fiat assumes GM attempting to disrupt PSA merger, union talks

Mary Barra and Sergio Marchionne during a news conference after a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Jan. 24, 2017.Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

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By Gabrielle Coppola

November 20, 2019 at 5:13 PM UTC

Updated on

November 21, 2019 at 8:23 AM UTC

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General Motors Co. surprised Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV with a racketeering lawsuit that for the first time implicates late Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne in a years-long corruption scheme that already has landed car executives and labor leaders in jail.

The suit filed in federal court alleges Fiat Chrysler inflicted billions of dollars in damages by bribing United Auto Workers’ brass for competitive advantages that the union denied to GM. The illicit payments benefited Fiat Chrysler starting in 2009, when the two companies were emerging from government-backed bankruptcies, through 2015, when Marchionne conspired with the UAW to attempt a takeover, according to the suit.