DOJ indicts six Volkswagen employees over conspiracy to cheat emissions tests News
DOJ indicts six Volkswagen employees over conspiracy to cheat emissions tests

The US Department of Justice [official website] on Wednesday announced [statement] that six high-ranking Volkswagen (VW) employees were indicted for their roles in a potential conspiracy to cheat emissions testing. At the same time as the announcement, Attorney General Loretta Lynch [official website] announced that VW pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to three criminal felony charges and to pay a multi-billion dollar penalty. Those indicted include former VW head of engine development Jens Hadler, diesel engine engineer Richard Dorenkamp, former head of development Hainz-Jakob Neusser, quality manager Bernd Gottweis, former environment and qualify manager Juergen Peter. Justifying the pursuit of charges against individuals, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates [official website] stated that “faceless multinational corporations don’t commit crimes; flesh and blood people commit crimes.”

VW has been steeply penalized internationally for a scandal [JURIST op-ed] that saw the automaker cheat emissions standards with software designed to fool testing equipment. Earlier this week corporate executive Oliver Schmidt was arrested [JURIST report] by the FBI on charges that he had conspired to defraud the US. VW faces sanctions in South Korea, Spain, Germany and Australia in addition to other sanctions [JURIST reports] in the US. The EU announced [JURIST report] in December a plan to hold member nations accountable for VW’s fraud, increasing the likelihood that other states may be added to the list of those suing the automaker.