DETROIT — Federal prosecutors on Monday asked a judge to appoint lawyer Neil Barofsky as an independent monitor to oversee the UAW as part of its corruption case settlement with the union.
Barofsky, a partner at law firm Jenner & Block, previously was appointed monitor to oversee Credit Suisse Securities and Credit Suisse AG following billion-dollar settlements, prosecutors said. He also was an attorney in the Southern District of New York and was appointed inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program instituted by the U.S. Treasury after the Great Recession.
In a motion sent before U.S. District Judge David Lawson, prosecutors said they believed Barofsky “would dutifully fulfill the role as monitor in this case.”
The UAW in February submitted its list of candidates, per the consent decree, which a spokesman on Monday confirmed included Barofsky. Prosecutors had the right to request additional candidates before selecting one and requesting approval from a judge.
The monitor will have the power to bring charges against anyone in the UAW found to have committed fraud, corruption or illegal behavior and has the right to review all “nonconfidential financial data, books, records, audit findings and other similar records” and can disclose that information to members if deemed necessary. The monitor will also have the right to sit in on all of the union’s international executive board meetings except for matters “concerning collective bargaining strategy.”
