DETROIT -- Chrysler Group LLC Deputy Chief Executive Jim Press appears to have fallen victim to the same financial crisis that pushed the auto maker into bankruptcy earlier this year, according to documents filed in a Michigan county court.

Mr. Press, who was kept on in senior management after Fiat SpA took control of Chrysler in June, owes $947,410 in back taxes to the federal government and has defaulted on $609,286 he owes Western Federal Credit Union, according to the documents filed in Oakland County.

In a letter last November to the Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based credit union, Mr. Press said he was unable to make two $203,000 payments he owed at the time because Chrysler had suspended bonuses and he had been planning to use the money from his bonus for the payments.

"You don't have to worry about my ability to pay, it's just a cash flow issue at this time," Mr. Press wrote in the Nov. 11, 2008, letter filed with the court. "My employment is not in jeopardy, and I still have monthly income to service the note."

The letter was sent two weeks before the chief executives of the three major U.S. carmakers flew to Washington, D.C., to ask for emergency funds from Congress. At that time, Chrysler said it needed $7 billion. On April 30, the company filed for bankruptcy protection and went through a federally orchestrated bailout, emerging 42 days later under the control of Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne.