Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV's late CEO Sergio Marchionne orchestrated a multimillion-dollar racketeering conspiracy — including bribes — that corrupted three rounds of bargaining with the United Auto Workers and harmed General Motors Co., according to a lawsuit filed yesterday by GM, the <em>Detroit News</em> reported. In the federal racketeering lawsuit filed yesterday against the Italian American automaker, GM said that "clear admissions of wrongdoing" by FCA executives amid a continuing federal investigation into the union exposed a multi-year pattern of corruption that FCA used to cause GM "massive monetary damage." The lawsuit promises an unprecedented public fight between two titans of the U.S. auto industry, each just a decade removed from nearly $82 billion taxpayer-funded bankruptcies that enabled both of them to close plants, cut jobs and winnow brands, especially GM. The legal confrontation comes as FCA is locked in national contract talks with the UAW and is negotiating a transatlantic merger with Groupe PSA of France, maker of Peugeot and Citroën cars. The lawsuit seeks to put a price tag on damage related to crimes committed by FCA executives who have been convicted in federal court during a years-long corruption crackdown in federal court. The probe has produced 10 convictions, charges against 13 and implicated Marchionne, UAW President Gary Jones and Dennis Williams, Jones's predecessor atop the union.
