DETROIT — The U.S. Department of Justice is examining allegations that United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain used his position to improperly help his fiancée and retaliated against a senior union official who challenged those actions, according to internal union documents reviewed by Reuters.
Last month, the lead attorney for the federal monitor appointed to oversee the union notified Fain and senior UAW member Rich Boyer that the DOJ had opened a grand jury investigation into issues described in the monitor’s reports, including matters involving Fain and his fiancée. The monitor’s office, headed by New York attorney Neil Barofsky, regularly releases reports assessing the union’s internal operations.
Fain has rejected the monitor’s conclusions and has described the allegations as “bogus.” He is currently seeking a second four-year term as UAW president, with an election expected later this year. Boyer is among the small group of challengers running against him.
In a report released last month, the monitor found that Fain had retaliated against Boyer and misused his authority, including in ways that could benefit his fiancée. The monitor, however, postponed any decision on potential discipline while the matter undergoes further review and did not mention the federal investigation in that report.
“We 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,” the monitor’s lead counsel wrote in a June 18 email reviewed by Reuters. “We do not intend to publicly disclose the existence of that investigation at this time,” he added.
Bloomberg previously reported that the Justice Department was investigating allegations involving Fain. It remains unclear what impact, if any, the probe may have on his reelection campaign.
The UAW declined to comment. An attorney representing the union said the organization itself is not the target of a grand jury investigation. Boyer and his lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Responding to news of the DOJ inquiry, Fain accused Boyer of feeding “false allegations” to the monitor and said Barofsky had a “political grudge against me because the UAW took an anti-war stance about what was happening in Gaza.” Last month, Fain argued that Barofsky’s reports were politically driven, pointing to what he described as an intense and personal dispute with the monitor in 2024 over the union executive board’s call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
“What the Monitor is doing is wrong, it’s unfair to the UAW and to you as members, and my lawyers are looking at any and all legal options I can pursue to make it stop,” Fain said in a statement, adding that he retained a law firm to fight the allegations.
The Department of Justice didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The UAW has been under federal oversight since a 2020 settlement to resolve a corruption scandal. The offense involved more than a dozen union officials, some of whom pleaded guilty to embezzling millions of dollars for their personal benefit, using 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 prison time.
