FILE PHOTO: A Volkswagen (VW) logo covered with mud and dust is seen on the wheel of a car in Grafenwoehr, Germany, October 26, 2016. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle/File Photo
The Federal Bureau of
Investigation has arrested a Volkswagen executive who faces
charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, two people with knowledge
of the arrest said on Sunday, marking an escalation of the criminal
investigation into the automaker’s diesel emissions cheating scandal.
Oliver Schmidt, who led
Volkswagen’s regulatory compliance office in the United States from 2014 to
March 2015, was arrested on Saturday by investigators in Florida and is
expected to be arraigned on Monday in Detroit, said the two people, a law
enforcement official and someone familiar with the case.
Lawyers representing Mr.
Schmidt did not respond to requests for comment late Sunday. Officials at the
Justice Department also declined to comment, as did an F.B.I. spokesman in
Detroit.
In a statement, Jeannine
Ginivan, a spokeswoman for Volkswagen, said that the automaker “continues to
cooperate with the Department of Justice” but that “it would not be appropriate
to comment on any ongoing investigations or to discuss personnel matters.”
Lawsuits filed against
Volkswagen by the New York and Massachusetts state attorneys general accused
Mr. Schmidt of playing an important role in Volkswagen’s efforts to conceal its
emissions cheating from United States regulators.
Starting in late 2014, Mr.
Schmidt and other Volkswagen officials repeatedly cited false technical
explanations for the high emissions levels from Volkswagen vehicles, the state
attorneys general said. In 2015, Mr. Schmidt acknowledged the existence of a
so-called defeat device that allowed Volkswagen cars to cheat emissions tests.
Volkswagen eventually said
that it had fitted 11 million diesel cars worldwide with illegal software that
made the vehicles capable of defeating pollution tests.
The software enabled the cars
to sense when they were being tested for emissions and turn on
pollution-control systems to curb emissions at the cost of engine performance.
But those controls were not fully deployed on the road, where cars spewed
nitrogen oxide at up to 40 times the levels allowed under the Clean Air Act.
James Liang, a former
Volkswagen engineer who worked for the company in California, pleaded guilty in September to charges
that included conspiracy to defraud the federal government and violating the Clean Air Act. But Mr. Schmidt’s arrest
brings the investigation into the executive ranks.
The arrest came as Volkswagen
and the Justice Department neared a deal to pay more than $2
billion to resolve the criminal investigation into the emissions cheating. The
company or one of its corporate entities is expected to plead guilty as part of
the deal.
The settlement could come as
early as next week, barring any last-minute hiccups, according to people with
knowledge of the negotiations.
The German automaker has been
eager to put the Justice Department investigation behind it before
President-elect Donald J. Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20.
American prosecutors had
traveled to Germany in recent months to interview Volkswagen executives,
according to German prosecutors.
The criminal case against
Volkswagen, and the potential guilty plea, set it apart from other recent auto
industry investigations. In settlements with General Motors and Toyota over
their handling of safety defects, for example, the companies agreed to pay large
fines, but did not plead guilty.
Prosecutors are also mulling
criminal charges against Takata, the Japanese manufacturer under criminal
investigation for its defective airbags.
Volkswagen has already agreed to
pay up to nearly $16 billion to resolve civil claims
in what has become one of the largest consumer class-action settlements ever in
the United States, involving half a million cars.
Under the settlement, most car
owners have the option of either selling their vehicles back to Volkswagen, or
getting them fixed, provided the automaker could propose a fix that satisfied
regulators.
The scandal has affected many
Volkswagen and Audi models, including the Audi
A3 and Volkswagen Beetle, Golf, Jetta and Passat diesel cars.
No comments:
Post a Comment