Ex-GM exec returns to U.S. and fraud plea

CHICAGO, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- A former General Motors executive, a fugitive for more than a year, returned to the United States to plead guilty to kickbacks and fraud, U.S. officials said.

The U.S. Justice Department said Daniel J. Bealko, formerly GM's global commodity manager for lightweight metals, also pleaded guilty in Chicago to income tax evasion. He admitted concealing from the Internal Revenue Service approximately $6.5 million in kickbacks he received from his co-defendant, Anthony Demetrius Brown, a Chicago area businessman engaging in metal brokerage and commodity trading, who previously pleaded guilty in the case, the department said.

Between 1998 and 2003, Bealko received approximately $6.5 million in kickbacks from Brown for steering GM bulk aluminum sales on favorable terms to Fuci Metals, the department said.

Fuci resold the aluminum for a small profit to third parties that Bealko picked out and on terms he negotiated. Brown diverted funds he had obtained from the sale of GM's aluminum to his own benefit and his sports and entertainment business interests, the department said. Fuci eventually became insolvent, leaving GM with a debt of approximately $83 million.

Bealko returned to Chicago Wednesday to plead to the federal charges.

Bealko, 62, formerly of Clarkston, Mich., apparently was living in the Caribbean islands of St. Kitts and Nevis when he was indicted in March 2008. Brown, also indicted, owned businesses in Illinois and Nevada related to metal sales, sports and entertainment.

Bealko was arrested last year in Liechtenstein, the department said, where Bealko agreed to return to the United States and plead guilty. He was taken into federal custody when he arrived in Chicago.

Bealko also agreed to forfeit $6.5 million and to assist the U.S. government in obtaining certain foreign assets, including $3.3 million held in a Liechtenstein bank, which would be applied toward restitution to GM, the department said.

Sentencing is set for Jan. 19.