Ex-VW Executive Pleads Guilty -- WSJ
July 26 2017 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
Former executive to be sentenced in U.S. on criminal charges
tied to emissions case
By Mike Spector
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (July 26, 2017).
A former Volkswagen AG compliance executive agreed to plead
guilty in the U.S. to criminal charges stemming from his alleged
role in the German auto maker's yearslong emissions-cheating
deception, a court spokesman said.
Oliver Schmidt, a German citizen who for several years headed
Volkswagen's environment and engineering office in Auburn Hills,
Mich., faces charges that he conspired to defraud U.S. officials
and customers with diesel-powered vehicles featuring illegal
software that duped government emissions tests.
Prosecutors and lawyers in the criminal case told a federal
judge Tuesday morning that Mr. Schmidt has agreed to plead guilty,
a spokesman for the U.S. District Court in Detroit said. Mr.
Schmidt is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 4, the spokesman said.
Mr. Schmidt had been awaiting trial while behind bars in
Michigan.
A lawyer for Mr. Schmidt declined to comment. A Volkswagen
spokeswoman said the auto maker continues to cooperate with U.S.
Justice Department probes of individuals and declined to comment
further.
Volkswagen in March pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the
U.S. and has admitted to rigging nearly 600,000 diesel-powered
vehicles with illegal software that allowed them to pass government
emissions tests and then pollute far beyond legal limits on the
road.
The company has said the software is on some 11 million vehicles
globally. In the U.S. alone, legal settlements could cost
Volkswagen more than $25 billion depending on how many vehicles the
auto maker ends up repurchasing to compensate consumers.
Mr. Schmidt is one of eight individuals charged in the U.S. in
Volkswagen's emissions cheating. A former engine-development
manager at Volkswagen luxury-unit Audi was charged earlier this
month. One engineer has pleaded guilty and is set to be sentenced
in late August. Others charged are believed to reside in Germany
and aren't likely to be extradited to the U.S. to face charges.
Judges have denied Mr. Schmidt's attempts to be released from
prison on bond amid concerns he would flee before appearing for
required court dates. The charges against Mr. Schmidt include
conspiracy, wire fraud and violations of the Clean Air Act.
The terms of Mr. Schmidt's guilty plea and his expected prison
time or other punishments remained unclear. A spokeswoman for the
U.S. attorney's office in Detroit, which is pursuing the case
alongside Justice Department prosecutors in Washington, declined to
comment on the agreement's terms.
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested Mr. Schmidt in
January at Miami International Airport before he boarded a flight
to Germany. When heading Volkswagen's environment and engineering
office in Michigan from 2012 to early 2015, he liaised with U.S.
and California regulators on compliance matters. Volkswagen in
September 2015 admitted to using so-called defeat devices to evade
government emissions requirements.
Write to Mike Spector at mike.spector@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 26, 2017 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
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