(11 Jan 2017) Six high-level Volkswagen employees have been indicted by a grand jury in the company's emissions cheating scandal, as VW admitted wrongdoing and agreed to pay a record $4.3 billion penalty.
In announcing the federal indictments and plea deal Wednesday in Washington, the Justice Department detailed an elaborate and wide-ranging scheme to commit fraud and then cover it up. At least 40 VW employees were involved in destroying evidence, the government said.
The penalty against the company is the largest ever levied by the government against an automaker, eclipsing the $1.2 billion fine against Toyota in 2014 over safety issues related to unintended acceleration.
VW installed software into diesel engines on nearly 600,000 VW, Porsche and Audi vehicles in the U.S. that activated pollution controls during government tests and switched them off in real-world driving. The software, called a "defeat device" because it defeated the emissions controls, improved engine performance but spewed out harmful nitrogen oxide at up to 40 times above the legal limit.
U.S. regulators confronted VW employees about the use of the software following tests conducted by university researchers that showed differences in testing and real-world emissions. Volkswagen at first denied the use of the defeat device, but finally admitted it in September of 2015. Even after that admission, the government said, company employees were busy deleting computer files and other evidence.
At a press conference Wednesday, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said "Volkswagen obfuscated, they denied and they ultimately lied."
The German company pleaded guilty to conspiracy, obstruction of justice and importing vehicles by using false statements in a plea deal, which requires VW to cooperate in a continuing probe that could lead to the arrest of more employees.
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