Reuters reports:
Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) pleaded guilty on Friday to fraud, obstruction of justice and falsifying statements as part of a $4.3 billion settlement reached with the U.S. Justice Department in January over the automaker's diesel emissions scandal.
It was the first time the company has pleaded guilty to criminal conduct in any court in the world.
[...] The September 2015 disclosure that VW intentionally cheated on emissions tests for at least six years led to the ouster of its chief executive, damaged the company's reputation around the world, and prompted massive bills.
In total, VW has agreed to spend up to $25 billion in the United States to address claims from owners, environmental regulators, states, and dealers, and offered to buy back about 500,000 polluting U.S. vehicles.
Volkswagen's general counsel Manfred Doess made the plea on its behalf after he said at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Detroit that he was authorized by the company's board of directors to enter a guilty plea.
[...] U.S. District Judge Sean Cox accepted the company's guilty plea to conspiracy to commit fraud, obstruction and entry of goods by false statement charges and set an April 21 sentencing date, where he must decide whether to approve the terms of the plea agreement.
Common Dreams reports:
U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), stands up to powerful special interests on behalf of the American public, working to win concrete results for our health and our well-being. With a strong network of researchers, advocates, organizers, and students in state capitols across the country, we take on the special interests on issues, such as product safety, political corruption, prescription drugs, and voting rights, where these interests stand in the way of reform and progress.
Statement by Mike Litt, Consumer Program Advocate at U.S. PIRG Education Fund, on today's guilty plea by Volkswagen in its criminal court case for emission violations:
"18 months after news of Volkswagen's emission scandal broke, we're glad to see the company finally admit to criminal wrongdoing. This kind of company admission is a big deal.
Next, executives responsible for defrauding consumers and government regulators should pay with jail time. The VW scandal is one of the biggest corporate crimes in history. We need to make sure executives and their companies know that crime doesn't pay.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday March 12 2017, @01:41PM
Second, VW compliance with EPA regulations worsens the fuel economy and performance of its vehicle. This trade off has been outright ignored. Third, the pipeline spill you mentioned was fined for reasons that had nothing to do with the harm of the spill and it is apples and oranges to compare oil spilled into the environment to oil burned into mostly CO2 and H2O and then released into the environment. Fourth, VW is only being fined because it got caught by an independent party. EPA had no trouble with the violation when it was invisible to the public.
VW's violation has been turned into theater, but we have little evidence of significant harm to the environment or people, the violation meant significant benefit to VW drivers, and regulators were suspiciously lax on looking for violations of the law in the first place. I believe this to be a terrible precedent for either punishing polluters or any sort of business regulatory reform.