Volkswagen May Be Criminally Charged in Emissions Cheating: Report

DETROIT, MI — Volkswagen is reportedly negotiating a settlement with federal prosecutors in Detroit and the Justice Department’s fraud and environmental crimes sections in Washington, D.C., to avoid criminal charges in its diesel-emissions cheating fiasco, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Unnamed sources close to the investigation told the newspaper that negotiations are under way after the Justice Department found evidence of wrongdoing by the German automaker, which last fall admitted it had rigged software to manipulate the results of emissions testing in 475,000 cars with 2-liter diesel engines in the United States. The government also alleges Volkswagen installed the “defeat dive” software in about 85,000 3-liter engines.

The “defeat device” software was designed to detect when the car was undergoing official emissions testing and turn full emissions controls on only during the tests.

The software then turned off during normal driving conditions to boost performance. As a result, the vehicles emitted greenhouse gases up to 40 times higher than federal environmental standards allowed, the government said.

The Justice Department has not yet decided on specific charges, according to the Wall Street Journal report, but hopes to have a settlement by the end of the year.

In June, the automaker agreed to pay a $15 billion settlement to regulators and consumers.

It’s unclear if the Justice Department will file criminal charges against any workers. Many Volkswagen workers live in Germany and would have to be extradited to the United States to face charges.

Volkswagen said in a statement that it “is committed to earning back the trust of our customers, dealers, regulators and the American public. As we have said previously, Volkswagen is cooperating with federal and state regulators in the United States, including the Department of Justice, and our discussions are continuing toward a resolution of remaining issues.