General Motors Slips 2%; Could Face Criminal Charges

General Motors Company (GM) shares inched lower in trading Friday after the Wall Street Journal reported the company could face criminal charges and a fine of more than $1 billion over a deadly ignition switch defect.The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that while the U.S. Justice Department won't charge GM with bankruptcy fraud over a deadly ignition switch defect, prosecutors are weighing whether or not to charge GM with criminal wire fraud after coming to the conclusion GM likely made misleading statements and concealed information about the ignition switch in its communications to regulators and others.Investigators were looking into whether GM purposely concealed information about the safety defect from the court where it filed for bankruptcy protection but no evidence of that has been uncovered. The paper noted prosecutors are aiming to bring criminal charges and reach a settlement with GM in September. It could result in a financial penalty against GM that could exceed $1 billion. Recently GM was down on light volume of 12 million shares. Average daily volume is 14.9 million shares.