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VW Engineer Sentenced to 40-month Prison Term in Diesel Case

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

An Anonymous Coward writes:

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: 3, Informative) by tonyPick on Sunday November 26 2017, @12:02PM (4 children)

    by tonyPick (1237) on Sunday November 26 2017, @12:02PM (#601697) Homepage Journal

    According to this he's just the first, and there'll be others: From TFA

    U.S. prosecutors have charged eight current and former Volkswagen executives in connection with the diesel emissions cheating probe. Liang is one of the lowest-ranking executives charged so far.

    And there's more details here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/25/business/volkswagen-engineer-prison-diesel-cheating.html [nytimes.com]

    Mr. Liang, who helped develop the software that concealed high levels of pollutants generated by Volkswagen’s diesel engines, reached a plea deal with prosecutors last year after agreeing to assist in the government’s investigation of the company.
    ...
    Although his cooperation with investigators has helped the government’s cases against the company and other Volkswagen executives, the judge said it was not enough to allow Mr. Liang to be sentenced to home confinement, as his lawyer had requested.
    ...
    Six other Volkswagen executives have been indicted in the case, as well as one employee of the automaker’s Audi luxury division.

    One of the executives, Oliver Schmidt, has also reached a plea agreement with prosecutors.

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  • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Sunday November 26 2017, @12:09PM (1 child)

    by Thexalon (636) on Sunday November 26 2017, @12:09PM (#601699)

    If, however, the engineer is the one receiving the harshest sentence (which seems entirely possible), that's definitely disproportionate. And if I had to hazard a guess, the executives at VW would throw him under a bus in a heartbeat if they think it would save their own butts.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 26 2017, @11:47PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 26 2017, @11:47PM (#601881)

      Well, if they're going to throw him under a bus, I hope it's the new electric bus, that would be a fitting end.

  • (Score: 2) by crafoo on Sunday November 26 2017, @02:53PM (1 child)

    by crafoo (6639) on Sunday November 26 2017, @02:53PM (#601734)

    This is as high as it will go. No executives will serve jail time.

    • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Monday November 27 2017, @11:31AM

      by deimtee (3272) on Monday November 27 2017, @11:31AM (#602023) Journal

      Yep. They've made an example of him to show they are tough on crime, now they can quietly plea deal all the executives down to (company paid) fines.

      --
      If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.