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posted by janrinok on Sunday November 26 2017, @08:54AM   Printer-friendly
from the what-about-the-bosses? dept.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-emissions-sentencing/vw-engineer-sentenced-to-40-month-prison-term-in-diesel-case-idUSKCN1B51YP

WASHINGTON/DETROIT (Reuters) - A federal judge in Detroit sentenced former engineer James Liang to 40 months in prison on Friday for his role in Volkswagen AG's (VOWG_p.DE) multiyear scheme to sell diesel cars that generated more pollution than U.S. clean air rules allowed.

U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox also ordered Liang to pay a $200,000 fine, 10 times the amount sought by federal prosecutors. Cox said he hoped the prison sentence and fine would deter other auto industry engineers and executives from similar schemes to deceive regulators and consumers.


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  • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday November 26 2017, @11:29AM (7 children)

    by MostCynical (2589) on Sunday November 26 2017, @11:29AM (#601684) Journal

    if Mr Liang was the most senior VW employee who was also a US citizen, he was the highest the prosecution could get to.

    --
    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
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  • (Score: 5, Funny) by unauthorized on Sunday November 26 2017, @12:29PM (4 children)

    by unauthorized (3776) on Sunday November 26 2017, @12:29PM (#601703)

    Don't worry guys, the free market will solve this problem... any day now! I'm sure now people will stop buying VW products, just like they did with Sony products back when Son put literal malware on their music disks.

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Sunday November 26 2017, @02:41PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday November 26 2017, @02:41PM (#601730) Journal

      I'm sure now people will stop buying VW products

      Why would they do that? Let us keep in mind that the scheme in question improved the performance and fuel economy of these cars over what they could achieve with a vehicle that passed the emissions test legitimately.

    • (Score: 2, Disagree) by Entropy on Sunday November 26 2017, @08:59PM (1 child)

      by Entropy (4228) on Sunday November 26 2017, @08:59PM (#601829)

      Why? Because they got more powerful, better miles per gallon engines than would otherwise be possible? Diesel engines are unfairly demonized in emissions by focusing on NOx emissions, rather than looking at the many other involved factors such as that diesel engines utilize fuel in proportion to how much power output they are producing at the moment, unlike gas engines that use a ton at idle.

      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @12:06AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @12:06AM (#601886)

        You conveniently leave out diesel's dirty little secret...

        It produces particulate matter of a size that becomes lodged deep in human lungs, and even you can't be simple enough to deny the links between carcinogenic material and cancer, I hope.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @12:01AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @12:01AM (#601885)

      And before Sony, it was Toshiba, who sold state of the art bearing manufacturing technology to the Russians some years ago, which translated into very quiet prop-shaft bearings for their boomer subs.

      Yup, people stopped consuming Toshiba products in droves, not.

  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 26 2017, @09:07PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 26 2017, @09:07PM (#601831)

    tell that to Kim Dot Com, and Julian Assange.

    • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday November 26 2017, @09:21PM

      by MostCynical (2589) on Sunday November 26 2017, @09:21PM (#601838) Journal

      Ah, yes, but they did stuff on the Internet, whereas Mr Liang was mucking about with cars.
      Besides, the putcomes was just more pollution, and with the way the US administration is treating the EPA and other organiations, it isn't like they care about the environment, much, anyway.

      --
      "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex