More watch-related crime news today, I’m afraid. This time, the perp’s the United Auto Workers Union, as autonews.com reports . . .
“In 2013, the training center jointly run by General Motors and the UAW ordered 58,000 custom-made watches — enough to give one to every GM hourly worker and have plenty left over.
“But they were never handed out. Today, the $4 million order remains packed away in a warehouse near the Detroit River.
“The UAW official who arranged it [ED: Former United Auto Workers Vice President Joe Ashton above] collected a $250,000 kickback. Two others split $95,000 disguised as payments for ‘furniture.’
“That still left well over $1 million in profit for the vendor — a Philadelphia chiropractor who got into the watch business solely to recoup a bad loan he had made to a friend of one of the union officials.”
$4m divided by 58k is $68 per watch. I’m thinking the UAW commissioned a generic quartz piece with a crappy ass UAW logo in the middle. What are the odds they were made in China?
I want one! Not as a collectible; a run of 58k watches disqualifies the design as a limited edition. But it would make a great talking piece for a discussion of corruption’s corrosive effect on, well, everyone.
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