Volkswagen executive Oliver Schmidt — the head of the company’s environmental and engineering office (overseeing emissions issues) in Auburn Hills, Michigan, until early 2015 — has been sentenced to 7 years in prison and fined $400,000 for his part in defrauding US regulators regarding the company’s diesel vehicle emissions.
On December 6th, Volkswagen executive Oliver Schmidt is slated to be sentenced in the US in relation to his earlier guilty plea to charges of conspiring to defraud regulators and to violate clean air laws.
Ahead of this sentencing procedure, Schmidt has reportedly sent a letter to US judge Sean Cox saying the he feels he has been “misused” by Volkswagen.
The Dutch market watchdog known as “The Authority for Consumer & Markets” has fined Volkswagen AG €450,000 (~$534,000) for its use of misleading advertisements in the country between 2009 and 2015 relating to diesel cars.
Seven western states plus Virginia are planning to expand their EV charging infrastructure using some of the money coming to them from the settlement of the Volkswagen diesel emissions cheating scandal.
The German newspaper Bild has reported that Volkswagen Group’s Porsche brand is now seeking €200 million (~$235 million) in damages from its stablemate Audi over its involvement in the use of illegal defeat devices in diesel vehicles.
Volkswagen’s cumulative “costs” related to the ongoing diesel vehicle emissions cheating scandal now total around $30 billion (~€25 billion), following the company’s report that it was booking an additional €2.5 billion provision related to hardware fixes for affected vehicles in the US.
The Volkswagen AG exec arrested last year in the US in relation to his part in defrauding diesel vehicle emissions regulators, Oliver Schmidt, will be pleading guilty on August 4 in US District Court in Detroit, a court spokesperson has revealed.
Here’s a bit of good news on the air pollution front: Volkswagen diesel car owners in Germany will lose their vehicle registrations if they refuse to receive engine software updates to bring their cars in line with emissions standards, going by documents from the country’s motor vehicle watchdog KBA (as reported by Focus Online).
The current head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, was recently quoted as saying that the department would continue to “very aggressively” pursue action against auto manufacturers involved in diesel vehicle emissions testing fraud into the foreseeable future.
Diesel cheating is a story that just won’t go away. This week, German prosecutors descended on several Daimler offices and hauled away a treasure trove of documents and computers in their search for evidence the company has engaged in diesel cheating.
