{"id":760216,"date":"2026-07-13T11:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T11:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/760216\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T11:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T11:17:10","slug":"doj-opens-probe-into-allegations-against-united-auto-workers-president-shawn-fain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/760216\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ opens probe into allegations against United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain"},"content":{"rendered":"

DETROIT \u2014 The Department of Justice is probing \u200ballegations that United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain<\/a> took actions to improperly benefit his fianc\u00e9e and retaliated against another \u200csenior union member who objected to the actions, according to internal union documents reviewed by Reuters.<\/p>\n

The lead counsel for the federal watchdog appointed to oversee union activities informed Fain and the senior union member, Rich Boyer, last month that the DOJ had initiated a grand jury investigation into matters detailed in the monitor\u2019s reports, including \u200bthose involving Fain and his fianc\u00e9e. The monitor\u2019s office, led by New York attorney Neil Barofsky, issues periodic reports about the \u200bunion\u2019s inner workings.<\/p>\n

Fain, who has denied the monitor\u2019s findings and called the allegations outlined by the monitor \u201cbogus,\u201d is \u2060campaigning for a second four-year term as the leader of the union,\u00a0and\u00a0an election\u00a0is scheduled for later this year. Boyer is one \u200bof a handful of candidates opposing Fain.<\/p>\n

\"UAWUAW President Shawn Fain speaking at the UAW 39th Constitutional Convention in Detroit on June 15, 2026. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

The monitor issued\u00a0a report last month\u00a0finding that Fain had retaliated against Boyer and improperly used his authority<\/a>, \u200bincluding in ways that would benefit his fianc\u00e9e, but deferred a decision on disciplinary action pending further review without citing the federal probe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not publishing the details of our factual findings on this issue at this time out of deference to a Grand Jury investigation DOJ has initiated into that issue,\u201d the monitor\u2019s lead \u200bcounsel wrote in a June 18 email reviewed by Reuters. \u201cWe do not intend to publicly disclose the existence of that investigation at this \u200btime,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Bloomberg earlier reported that the DOJ was probing allegations around Fain. It is unclear how the investigation affects Fain\u2019s candidacy.<\/p>\n

The UAW declined to comment. \u200cA lawyer \u2060representing the union said it is not the subject of a grand jury investigation. Boyer and his attorney didn\u2019t immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

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In a statement responding to the DOJ investigation, Fain said that Boyer had \u201cfed the monitor false allegations,\u201d and that the monitor himself had a \u201cpolitical grudge against me because the UAW took an anti-war stance about what was happening in Gaza.\u201d The union president last month said that \u200bBarofsky\u2019s reports were politically motivated, citing \u200bwhat he said was a \u2060heated and highly personal disagreement with the monitor in 2024 regarding a call by the union\u2019s executive board for a ceasefire in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the Monitor is doing is wrong, it\u2019s unfair to the UAW and to \u200byou as members, and my lawyers are looking at any and all legal options I can pursue \u200bto make it \u2060stop,\u201d Fain said in a statement, adding that he retained a law firm to fight the allegations.<\/p>\n

The Department of Justice didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

The UAW has been under federal oversight since a 2020 settlement to resolve a corruption scandal. The offense involved more than a dozen \u2060union officials, \u200bsome of whom pleaded guilty to embezzling millions of dollars for their personal benefit, \u200busing the funds to purchase expensive liquor and cigars and to pay for golfing outings and related equipment, and expensive hotel stays. Two former union presidents were sentenced to \u200bprison time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 The Department of Justice is probing \u200ballegations that United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain took actions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,28,17985,3,111,27457,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-760216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-business","tag-department-of-justice","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-united-auto-workers","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}