The Justice Department is weighing charging General Motors Co. with criminal wire fraud stemming from the automaker’s failure to recall millions of vehicles equipped with a defective ignition switch, said people familiar with the matter.
Federal prosecutors in New York are focusing on the charge after determining GM probably made misleading statements and concealed information about the faulty switch, now linked to more than 100 deaths, the people said. They are hoping to reach a settlement with the company by the end of summer or early fall, although the timing could slip, they said.
Prosecutors also could explore other kinds of possible criminal wrongdoing in the GM case, the people familiar with the matter said. They haven’t made any final decisions on which charges to bring, if any, they said.
GM CEO Mary Barra met with Justice Department investigators last year, she said Tuesday at the automaker’s Detroit headquarters before the company’s annual shareholders meeting.
She declined to comment on the possible wire-fraud charge. “We have cooperated fully,” she said of the Justice Department probe. “It is their timeline and we are going to continue to cooperate to the fullest extent that we can. Anything else is pure speculation and does no one any good.”
