U. S. prosecutors charged six high-level, Volkswagen executives with various criminal charges related to the automaker’s years-long emission cheating scheme.
VW executives and employees were charged in a 10-year conspiracy to dupe regulators on the environmental quality of its diesel vehicles. Oliver Schmidt, the first executive for the German automaker to be arrested in connection with the emission scandal, was among those charged.
The company also agreed to a $4.3 billion settlement Wednesday, putting an end to the U. S. government’s investigations into the German automaker’s diesel emissions cheating.
VW will pay a $1.5-billion civil fine and $2.8-billion criminal fine, according to court documents. The company would have stiffer penalties had it refused to spend more than $11 billion to fix or buyback the nearly 500,000 tainted vehicles.
Schmidt and the others will be sentenced after they plead guilty to conspiracy charges, including conspiracy to commit fraud, obstruction of justice and lying about the types of vehicles VW sold.
The Department of Justice said VW officials told engineers in 2012 to destroy documents showing that the company’s lawyers prodded employees to get rid of evidence of the fraud.
VW admitted in September 2015 to installing so-called defeat devices in hundreds of thousands of diesel-powered vehicles in the U. S. The devices would only kick on during road conditions when emission measuring tools were not engaged.
Officials with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Homeland Security were among those present at a press conference Wednesday announcing the charges. Environmental regulators used the news to justify their mission.
“The American people demand a strong EPA” to protect people from corporations that pollute and poison the environment and waterways, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said at the conference, which was also attended by US Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
“Individuals with VW are being charged to show that those who commit serious crimes will be charged with face serious charges,” McCarthy said, adding: The EPA keeps big corporations from running rough shod over American consumers.
The EPA and other governmental agencies leaned on VW heavily to engage in various green energy programs as a form of penance.
VW agreed to a deal in December forcing the company to buy back or fix nearly 83,000 3.0-liter diesel vehicles. The company must maintain an 85 percent recall rate or risk dumping more money into a mitigation fund propping up several green energy projects.
Mitigation actions, according to the EPA’s website, include allowing states affected by the tainted vehicles to charge “infrastructure for light duty zero emission passengers”
The deal requires the company to contribute $225 million into the fund, which was developed earlier this year to fix VW’s tainted 2.0-litre diesel vehicle – VW would have to put more money into the account if it fails to reach the proscribed recall rate.
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CHARLESTON, S. C. — One by one, family members of nine slain black parishioners confronted Dylann Roof for the last time Wednesday, shouting at him, offering forgiveness and even offering to visit him in prison as he awaits execution for the slaughter.
The 22-year-old avowed white supremacist refused to meet their gaze and simply stared ahead, his head tilted down slightly as it had been for much of his trial.
“Dylann,” Janet Scott said quietly as she started speaking. “Dylann! DYLANN!” she said, her voice rising. Toward the end of her remarks, she said, “I wish you would look at me, boy.”
Scott, an aunt of 26-year-old Tywanza Sanders, the youngest victim killed in the massacre, demanded that Roof look at her as she talked about her nephew’s “great big heart,” which could not be donated because of the police investigation.
The final statements came a day after jurors sentenced an unrepentant Roof to death. The gunman had one final opportunity to ask for mercy but instead told jurors he still “felt like I had to do it.”
On Wednesday, U. S. District Judge Richard Gergel formally confirmed the sentence, saying “This hate, this viciousness, this moral depravity will not go unanswered.”
Some family members already testified at Roof’s trial. The formal sentencing hearing gave 35 of them a chance to speak directly to him, without prosecutors or the judge interrupting or asking questions.
Roof also had an opportunity to speak but declined to say anything. He is the first person ordered executed for a federal hate crime.
Some of the relatives looked directly at Roof. Others chose to look at jurors, who did not have to be in court Wednesday but told the judge they wanted to attend.
Sheila Capers, the sister-in-law of Cynthia Hurd, said she prayed for Roof’s soul to be saved.
“If at any point before you are sentenced and you’re in prison and you want me to come and pray with you, I will do that,” Capers said.
Felicia Sanders, who survived the attack, said she forgave Roof. But, she noted, Roof did nothing to save himself.
He served as his own attorney during the sentencing phase and never explained the massacre, expressed remorse or asked for his life to be spared.
Sanders told Roof he still lives in her head, and that when she hears a balloon pop or fireworks, it returns her to that night.
“Most importantly, I can’t shut my eyes to pray,” Sanders said.
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