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11th former union official charged in UAW bribery investigation

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11th former union official charged in UAW bribery investigation

An 11th former United Auto Workers official was charged Sept. 20 in an ongoing federal corruption investigation, according to court documents.

Jeff Pietrzyk, the former top aide to former UAW Vice President Joe Ashton, was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division.

Federal prosecutors are accusing Pietrzyk of conspiring with Ashton and former UAW official Michael Grimes — also charged in the investigation — to get millions of dollars in kickbacks from UAW vendors that they handpicked.

Grimes, who was charged Aug. 9 with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, pleaded guilty Sept. 4. The court documents in Grimes' case said he and two unnamed UAW officials obtained contracts for two vendors to provide items to the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources and UAW members while receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks from the vendors.

The Detroit News previously reported that Ashton and Pietrzyk were the two unnamed UAW officials who conspired with Grimes.

Grimes marked the first connection to General Motors Co. since he worked with the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources. Until the charges against Grimes, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV had been the only automaker involved in the investigation in which nine other officials, either with the UAW or FCA, have been charged and sentenced for participating in the bribery conspiracy.

GM previously said in a statement that it is "fully cooperating with the government's investigation."