Volkswagen Tells Its Managers Not To Travel To The US

I
n the last days of the Obama administration, the outgoing president has taken on a surprising urgency in closing “open” cases of alleged fraud, if mostly involving foreign carmakers. Case in point, this week’s $4.3 billion settlement with Volkswagen to put the diesel emmisions scandal to rest, and yesterday’s unexpected accusation by the EPA that Fiat was likely engaging in a similar scheme to defraud the US government of its true emissions. The crackdown has led to various curious outcomes, the most surprising of which is that Volkswagen has warned its senior managers not to travel to the United States after six current and former managers were indicted for their role in the German carmaker’s diesel test-cheating scheme, according to Reuters.
The company agreed to pay $4.3 billion in civil and criminal fines in a settlement with the DoJ on Wednesday, the largest ever U. S. penalty levied on an automaker. However, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the DoJ would continue to pursue “the individuals responsible for orchestrating this damaging conspiracy”.
As reported on Monday, one of the six charged, Oliver Schmidt, was arrested by the FBI at Miami International Airport on Saturday as he was about to fly home from holiday in Cuba. Schmidt, who is caught up in the “Dieselgate” investigation by the U. S. Department of Justice (DoJ), was ordered to be charged and held without bail on Thursday pending trial.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jan 13, 2017.