Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • A8

8A SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2017 DETROIT FREE PRESS Michigan Business General Motors has that Al- phons Iacobelli, who faces criminal charges for allegedly diverting UAW-Fiat Chrysler training money for a personal spending spree, was terminated earlier this year. GM hired Iacobelli after FCA let him go in 2015. When the charges were against him, GM suspended him in July. Iacobelli is charged with funneling at least $4.5 million meant for the UAW-FCA Train- ing Center to himself, now-de- ceased UAW Vice President General and Holie- wife, Monica Morgan. Morgan also is charged in the case.

Thursday, GM disclosed that Joe Ashton, a retired UAW vice president, was leaving its board of directors. Ashton took a seat on the GM board in August 2014 as a representative of the UAW Retiree Medical Trust, which is largest shareholder. A person familiar with board res- ignation said it was unrelated to the of Iacobelli. But the probe that led to the charges against Iacobelli, Morgan, retired UAW direc- tor Virdell King and former FCA ana- lyst James Durden, now includes GM and Ford, which jointly operate similar training programs with the UAW. Ashton is not accused of any wrongdoing, but reports have said the scope may now encompass his time as head of the General Motors department, as well as that of his successor in the job, Cindy Estrada.

At the heart of the probe is whether money meant to train autoworkers at all three com- panies was secretly funneled through chari- ties to union and company execu- tives who used them for personal gain. Federal investigators are trying to deter- mine whether management allowed the ille- gal diversion of funds to the bottom line. They are also scrutinizing charities con- trolled by union that may have re- ceived money from the training centers a practice the UAW says it prohibited in the wake of the investigation. Iacobelli and Morgan are accused of si- phoning millions of dollars from a UAW train- ing center and spending it on themselves, buying everything from luxury vehicles to $35,000 Mont Blanc pens. It is not clear that anything happened at the UAW training programs with GM and Ford on the scale of what the FBI says it found at FCA.

FCA executives and UAW ran a so- phisticated money-laundering scheme, in- vestigators say. The executives are accused of stealing money from the training center, then funneling it to themselves through various organizations, including a charity called the Leave the Light On Foundation and the Hospice of Metropolitan Detroit. GM labor exec who faces charges Iacobelli accused of moving funds for personal gain Greg Gardner Detroit Free Press Alphons Iacobelli See IACOBELLI, Page 9A Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has recognized its Mack Avenue Engine Plant in Detroit with a silver designation in the World Class Manufacturing rating system. The plant, which makes the Italian-Ameri- can Pentastar engine, received its new designation it was formerly listed as bronze after a two-day audit, according to a company news release. The internal designa- tion, which highlights factors that include quality, safety, productivity and waste reduc- tion, puts the Mack Avenue plant among Fiat Chrysler top-rated facilities in North America.

The company says the designation nizes the long-term commitment of the work- force to making changes that can secure the future of a facility. The 1.4-million-square-foot plant on St. Jean Avenue on east side, joins four other FCA North American facilities with the designation: Windsor Assembly in Ontario, Dundee Engine in Michigan, Toledo Assembly in Ohio and Saltillo South Engine in Mexico. There are two higher designations gold and World Class but no North American plants have those rankings. The company lists 32 sil- ver and gold FCA and Magneti Marelli plants worldwide.

The methodology was introduced by Fiat in 2006. The Mack Avenue plant, which has almost 750 workers, produces three versions of the V-6 Pentastar engine 3-liter for the Chrysler 300 and Jeep Grand Cherokee and Wrangler; 3.2-liter for the Cherokee; and 3.6-liter for the Dodge Grand Caravan and Journey, according to the company. Brian Harlow, vice president of Manufactur- ing for FCA North America, called the designa- tion an unprecedented achievement because of the speed with which the plant workers were able to boost the designation from bronze to silver. The plant received its bronze award 15 months ago. The plant, which was purchased by Chrysler Corp.

in 1953 and was once the production home of the Dodge Viper, has been making en- gines since 1998. In November 2012, Fiat Chrys- ler announced a $198 million investment and the addition of 250 jobs at the plant to produce the Pentastar engine, the company said. Contact Eric D. Lawrence: press.com. Follow him on Twitter: rence.

Mack Avenue Engine gets FCA silver production designation Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has recognized the Mack Avenue Engine Plant in Detroit with a silver designation in the World Class Manufacturing process. JERRY S. Recognized for quality, safety, productivity, other factors Eric D. Lawrence Detroit Free Press USA TODAY NETWORK Eugene Applebaum, who grew a Dearborn pharmacy into the eighth-largest drugstore chain in the United States and was a major donor to Wayne State University, died Friday at his home in Hills. He was 81.

He started Arbor Drugs with a single drug store, Civic Drugs in Dearborn, in 1963. The enterprise grew over 35 years to 208 stores, until CVS acquired it in 1998. At the time of the sale, Arbor held of the drugstore market share in Southeast Michigan. In 1998, he contributed the largest individ- ual gift in the history of Wayne State Univer- sity, his alma mater. His $5 million gift helped pay for construction of a new home for health education in his native Detroit.

The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences building opened in 2002. Applebaum focused much of his philanthropy to additional research and education in health sciences. In 1999, he co- founded the Hermelin Brain Tu- mor Center for the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit; and in 2006, Beaumont Hospital opened the Marcia and Eugene Applebaum Surgical Learning Center, the facility of its kind in the coun- try. The philanthropy has also The Mayo Clinic, where a in a major building on its Minnesota campus is named for the Applebaums; and Brigham and Hospital in Boston. In 1999, with his wife Marcia, he announced the largest capital gift in the history of metro Jewish Community, leading to the naming of the 195-acre Eugene and Marcia Ap- plebaum Jewish Community Campus in West In September 2013, he received the Fred M.

Butzel Award, the Jewish highest honor, from the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. For the past 19 years, Applebaum worked as chairman and founder of the Arbor Invest- ments Group in Hills. Along with his wife of 56 years, Applebaum is survived by his daughters, Lisa and Pamela, and four grandchildren. Funeral services are planned for 2 p.m. Monday at the Ira Kaufman Chapel in Arbor Drugs founder Eugene Applebaum dies Staff Report Detroit Free Press Eugene Applebaum It must be an interesting time for Mike Manley.

Manley, who leads Fiat Chrysler Automo- Jeep and Ram brands, was on stage on Nov. 29 to introduce the new 2018 Jeep Wran- gler at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Next month at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Ram is expected to show another highly anticipated new ve- hicle, the 2019 Ram 1500 pickup. And more vehicles are on the way in the years ahead a refreshed Cherokee, updated Renegade, and a new Jeep pickup, Grand Cherokee and Wagoneer. Only a few months ago, Manley was an- swering questions about Jeep sales declines, but the questions now focus more on new of- ferings.

Jeep sales overall do remain down for the year in the U.S. 10.4% through November but an improvement over the de- cline at midyear. The company says the decline is strategic because it has been reducing sales to rental to boost and residual val- ue. In addition, the successful launch of the new Jeep Compass earlier this year has begun to pay dividends, with Compass sales up more than in November compared with last year. That vehicle, billed as a global SUV in part because it is built at plants in Mexico, Brazil, China and India, must close the gap left by the absence of the old Compass and Patriot.

Jeep, however, is believed to be on target to sell more than 2 million vehicles worldwide by 2018 even as the brand is contending with a of SUV competitors. Manley spoke to the Free Press in Los Ange- les and his take on the future of Jeep and Ram. Naturally, the Wrangler was Man- main focus, but he also his thoughts about growth and even tion. think of another vehicle where you can go to Shanghai for example and people know Wrangler. You can go to Russia, they know Wrangler.

You can go to Brazil, they know Wrangler. one of the very few vehicles where people know what the vehicle is, what brand it comes from and that just speaks to the importance of it for Manley said, noting that he could not be more excited about getting the launch under way. Manley sees growth potential for Jeep in China and Europe, while Ram will look primar- ily to North America with some help from the Middle East. Mike Manley, who heads the Jeep and Ram brands for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, introduces the new 2018 Jeep Wrangler during the Los Angeles Auto Show on Nov. 29 in Los Angeles.

FREDERIC J. IMAGES Jeep, Ram brands head outlines plans Eric D. Lawrence Detroit Free Press USA TODAY NETWORK one of the very few vehicles where people know what the vehicle is Mike Manley Head of Jeep and Ram brands, about iconic off-road importance See MANLEY, Page 9A.