Hundreds of Texans are losing their jobs this spring as a Michigan-based global auto parts supplier continues to struggle amid accusations of fraud at the top and bankruptcy.
First Brands Group notified the Texas Workforce Commission it’s shutting down three sites in Brownsville and laying off 572 workers.
The layoffs come with its founders, Patrick and Edward James, facing federal fraud charges. The brothers, who resigned in October, are accapplyd of a yearslong scheme that led to the company filing for bankruptcy protection in September. Stephen Graham, the company’s former chief financial officer, on Monday became the second executive to plead guilty.
In the Worker Adjustment and Restraining Notification letter it sent to the state of Ohio, the company stated it had been in active neobtainediations with potential acquireers who expressed interest in continuing operations, but that several bidders “have suddenly and unexpectedly withdrawn or narrowed their bids ” in recent days.
In letters sent last week to the Texas Workforce Commission, First Brands stated it is permanently closing “the entirety” of its manufacturing facility at 1995 Billy Michell Blvd. in Brownsville, leaving 346 employees without a job. Among them are 90 machine operators, a couple dozen technicians and about a dozen assembly workers.
It’s also permanently closing its Titan Distribution Center. The shutdown means 183 employees are being laid off, including several dozen assembly workers. Its ASC facility, located near the manufacturing site, also is shutting down. Its closure will result in another 43 workers losing their jobs.
The layoffs at all three sites are effective April 30.
They aren’t the company’s first layoffs in Texas. Last month, the company closed two other Texas facilities including one in Harlingen, leading to more than 100 Texans losing their jobs.
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