A federal prosecutor has kicked off a criminal investigation into General Motors over the company’s seeming foot-dragging on a recall of vehicles with faults that led to the death of at least 13.
The investigation is being led by the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, CNN Money reported, citing similar stories in Bloomberg, Reuters and The New York Times.
The U.S. attorney’s office declined to confirm or deny the investigation, CNN Money reported. A spokesman for the office said the official normally declined to speak publicly about any investigation that was in the early stages.
GM spokesman Alan Adler said the comment would not comment.
The company faces fire for its slow recall of several models — from the Chevrolet Cobalt to the Saturn Ion — that had ignition switch issues. GM knew of the problems a decade ago, but only issued the recall, which involved ultimately 1.4 million vehicles, in February. Federal law mandates that companies must notify customers of failures and recall alerts within five days of finding the mechanical failure.
At least 13 people reportedly died in traffic mishaps related to the ignition with issue, CNN Money reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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