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DETROIT – A former president of the United Auto Workers who took part in a scheme along with other union officials that embezzled at least $1.5 million in member funds for lavish trips, golfing, alcohol and other luxuries was sentenced Tuesday to 21 months in prison.
Dennis Williams is the highest-ranking union official to be sentenced as part of a multiyear corruption probe into the prominent American union. He is one of 15 people to have been charged, including three Fiat Chrysler executives and his successor who is awaiting sentencing.
Williams pleaded guilty in September to conspiring with other union officials to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors. Under terms of the agreement, Williams’ sentence would be between 18 months and 24 months.
Federal prosecutors recommended the maximum sentencing guidelines for Williams, who led the union from 2014 to 2018. In court documents, they described Williams as being intricately involved with the illegal activities and living a “double life.”
“Dennis Williams tried to live two lives. On the one hand, at public events, he excoriated the things that were ‘wrong in the United States of America’ because union members ‘cannot buy the things they build,’” assistant U.S. attorneys wrote last week in a sentencing memo. “But in private, he exploited the hundreds of thousands of UAW members that he led.”
