DETROIT: The former president of the United Auto Workers pleaded guilty Wednesday to an embezzlement scheme, saying he suspected that union dues were being used for golf, lodging and fancy meals but deliberately looked away and enjoyed the bounty.
Dennis Williams is the latest senior leader at the UAW to plead guilty in the government’s investigation of corruption in the union’s upper ranks. The probe has resulted in the convictions of 11 people, including another former president, Gary Jones, plus a late official’s spouse.
As I have often said, the hard-working men and women of the UAW deserve so much better,” said Steven DAntuono, head of the FBI in Detroit.
Williams, who joined the union as a welder in Rock Island, Illinois, in 1977, rose to become secretary-treasurer of the UAW and then president from 2014 until he retired in 2018.
Williams, 67, was accused of conspiring…