Stephen L. Carter, Columnist

Companies Lie. Some Get Away With It.

We have different expectations from Volkswagen and "Game of Thrones."

October 9, 2015 at 6:48 PM UTC

Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of law at Yale University and author of “Invisible: The Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster.”

Stormy times.
Photographer: Akos Stiller

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Why is it wrong for Volkswagen to lie (if it did lie) about whether its cars meet emission standards, but uncontroversial for HBO to lie (if it is lying) about whether Jon Snow is dead?

Everyone knows what Volkswagen is accused of. If you’re puzzled by the reference to Jon Snow, we’ll get to him in a minute. But first, let me tell a brief story.