Former UAW vice president gets 15 months in prison for training-center scandal

According to POLITICO PRO, former United Automobile Workers Vice President Norwood Jewell was sentenced to 15 months in prison today after pleading guilty to accepting bribes from Fiat Chrysler executives.

Jewell is the eighth person to be sentenced in connection to a scheme to funnel millions of training-center dollars to lavish spoils such as cigars, expensive meals, airline tickets, alcohol and even a Ferrari.

One night in 2015, Jewell spent nearly $7,000 on dinner for UAW executives at Detroit’s London Chop House, according to prosecutors. He also used training-center funds to pay for 29 rounds of golf in Palm Springs, Calif., rent a three bedroom villa with a private pool and hot tub, and purchase $2,000 of tickets to Disney World and Universal Studios theme parks.

“The defendant was a top official in the UAW Chrysler Department who betrayed his position. He was a leader. He violated the trust,” said federal District Judge Paul Borman, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Borman, however, rejected prosecutors’ request for a $95,000 fine, noting that Jewell has a negative net worth.

Jewell, in addressing the judge, said he was proud of his 30-year career as a union representative and asserted that he “never compromised the collective bargaining process,” according to the Free Press. He said he was remorseful for the shadow he had cast “on myself and the union that I love.”