Six Volkswagen executives charged with fraud over emissions cheating

Six former Volkswagen executives are being charged over their alleged roles in the 2015 emissions scandal, as the company admits liability and is ordered to pay a record $4.3 billion penalty, US officials have said.

The men are accused of running a near decade-long conspiracy during their time at the firm and are being charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, violations of the Clean Air Act, and wire fraud, the US attorney general Loretta Lynch said on Wednesday.

“These individuals all held positions of significant responsibility at VW, including overseeing the company’s engine development division and serving on the company’s management board,” she said, adding that they had “seriously abused those positions”.

Separately, Lynch said Volkswagen had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the US, to commit wire fraud and to violate the American pollution laws. It also admitted obstruction of justice and “importation of goods by false statements”.

Consequently, the firm has been told to pay a $2.8 billion criminal fine and a further $1.5 billion in a civil settlement, Lynch announced. Volkswagen will also spend three years on probation and an independent monitor will be sent in to “oversee its ethics and compliance programme.”

In September 2015, the company admitted installing software in 11 million cars around the world in order to evade diesel emissions testing.