VW Executive Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Diesel Role

[Eugene]

Source: Bloomberg

VW Executive Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Diesel Role

By Margaret Cronin Fisk and Steven Raphael
December 6, 2017, 4:08 PM EST Updated on December 6, 2017, 4:40 PM EST

→ German native pleaded guilty to conspiracy, pollution count
→ Diesel-emissions scandal has cost VW $30 billion so far

A Volkswagen AG compliance executive who pleaded guilty in the U.S. for his role in the company’s $30 billion emissions cheating scandal was sentenced to 7 years in prison.

Oliver Schmidt, VW’s compliance liaison with American regulators, pleaded guilty in August to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and another of violating the Clean Air Act. Federal prosecutors sought the maximum of seven years, while Schmidt asked U.S. District Judge Sean Cox to limit his sentence to 40 months, saying he’d been coached to lie about emissions by his bosses.

“I only have myself to blame,” Schmidt said before Cox handed down the sentence. He admitted that he tried to conceal VW’s cheating. “I accept the punishment.”

Cox sentenced Schmidt to 60 months for the first count and 24 months for the second count, to run consecutively. Schmidt was fined $400,000. Schmidt knew VW’s vehicles weren’t compliant with U.S. emissions standards, Cox told the defendant.

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Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-06/vw-executive-sentenced-to-7-years-in-prison-for-diesel-role

[NCjack]

1. Hard to believe that the compliance exec worries so much about profits that he cheats

on the diesel vehicles' emissions. I suspect that the CEO squeezed senior exec very hard, but the only way to meet his profit target was through cheating on emissions. And the compliance exec was ordered to find a way or leave. So, he cheated.

[nitpicker]

2. Link to DW

http://www.dw.com/en/vw-executive-oliver-schmidt-sentenced-to-seven-years-in-jail-over-dieselgate/a-41682753