VW Executive Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Diesel Role
- German native pleaded guilty to conspiracy, pollution count
- Diesel-emissions scandal has cost VW $30 billion so far
Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg
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A Volkswagen AG compliance executive who pleaded guilty in the U.S. for his role in the company’s $30 billion emissions cheating scandal was sentenced to 7 years in prison.
Oliver Schmidt, VW’s compliance liaison with American regulators, pleaded guilty in August to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and another of violating the Clean Air Act. Federal prosecutors sought the maximum of seven years, while Schmidt asked U.S. District Judge Sean Cox to limit his sentence to 40 months, saying he’d been coached to lie about emissions by his bosses.