VW must pay $2.8B criminal penalty, judge says
Automaker agrees to plea agreement in emissions scandal
Volkswagen must pay a $2.8 billion criminal fine for purposely building a diesel engine equipped with software to cheat on greenhouse gas emissions tests.
U.S. District Judge Sean Cox on Friday accepted a $4.3 billion plea agreement reached in January between the automaker and the U.S. Justice Department that includes the fine. He also sentenced the company to three years of probation and accepted the appointment of a federal monitor to oversee the automaker’s compliance with federal regulations in the future.
Cox said the $2.8 billion criminal penalty is large enough, even though Volkwagen’s offenses, spanning a decade, were intentional as the automaker sold more than 590,000 vehicles with diesel engines that spewed emissions at levels far above acceptable federal levels.
“This is a case of deliberate, massive fraud perpetrated by VW management,” Cox said.
The $4.3 billion settlement includes an additional $1.5 billion civil penalty. By imposing the criminal fine and accepting Volkswagen’s agreement to be overseen by a federal monitor, the judge accepted the deal between the government and the company.
Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice had argued a month ago that the $4.3 billion settlement was adequate even though it was only a fraction of the penalty U.S. law allowed. That penalty had a range of $17 billion to $34 billion.
U.S. Attorney John Neal argued in March the lower figure was appropriate because Volkswagen went to great lengths to cooperate with the government and move the investigation along swiftly after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency charged the automaker with wrongdoing in September 2015.
Volkswagen also has agreed to civil settlements worth about $17 billion for U.S. consumers and dealers who own the automaker’s diesel vehicles.