Volkswagen Executive to Plead Guilty in Diesel Emissions Case
By NEAL E. BOUDETTEJULY 25, 2017
A Volkswagen executive accused of helping to cover up the automaker’s diesel emissions fraud has agreed to plead guilty in federal court next week, a development
that could bolster the Justice Department’s efforts to prosecute individuals involved in the scandal.
The automaker has also agreed to pay $4.3 billion in civil
and criminal penalties in the case brought by the Justice Department — part of $22 billion in settlements and fines Volkswagen is paying out in the United States, making it one of the costliest corporate scandals in history.
The following year, Volkswagen admitted that it had rigged diesel models with software — known as a defeat device —
that enabled the vehicles to pass emissions tests even though the vehicles were spewing far more pollutants outside testing labs.
Mr. Schmidt, 48, former head of Volkswagen’s environmental
and engineering center in Auburn Hills, Mich., has been accused of knowingly providing false information to American regulators who became suspicious about the emissions of Volkswagen diesel vehicles in early 2014.
