Volkswagen agrees to $4.3bn settlement with US regulators and pleads guilty in diesel emissions scandal case
German car giant Volkswagen has agreed to a $4.3bn (£3.5bn) settlement with US regulators to resolve civil and criminal investigations into its diesel emissions scandal.
US prosecutors also charged six Volkswagen executives and employees for their roles in the almost 10-year conspiracy, according to documents made public today.
In 2015 it was discovered that Volkswagen-manufactured cars with certain diesel engines had been fitted with a so-called defeat device, which cheated emissions tests in laboratory settings.
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VW will pay $1.5bn towards a civil fine and $2.8bn criminal fine to lay the scandal to rest in the country – though the company will still have to make headway in a number of other countries, including the UK.
The fines would have been higher, possibly as much as $34bn, if it hadn't agreed to spend around $11bn on already-sold consumer vehicles.
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VW will plead guilty to the three-count felony criminal information, conspiracy to commit fraud, obstruction of justice and entry of goods by false statement, and will then formally be sentenced.
Yesterday the company said it had negotiated a $4.3bn concrete draft settlement to resolve the issues and planned to plead guilty to criminal conduct.