VW Engineer Sentenced to 40 Months for Emissions Role
- Liang receives less than maximum of 5 years for cooperating
- Veteran engineer fined $200,000, faces supervision on release
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A veteran Volkswagen AG engineer was sentenced to 40 months in prison for his role in helping the German carmaker cheat U.S. emissions tests, the first person prosecuted in one of the biggest scandals in the automotive industry’s history.
James Liang, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy last year, got less than the statutory maximum time in prison recommended because he cooperated with the investigation into the automaker, and prosecutors called his “insider’s perspective” key to understanding how VW deceived regulators and consumers for years.