Mexican Media Brands
Jailed VW Manager Says He Was Coached to Lie about Diesel Cheating
Oliver Schmidt, the Volkswagen AG manager found guilty of violating U.S. emission laws, says his superiors and “high-ranking” company lawyers coached him how to lie about the cheating.
#legal
Share
Oliver Schmidt, the Volkswagen AG manager found guilty of violating U.S. emission laws, says his superiors and “high-ranking” company lawyers coached him how to lie about the cheating.
Schmidt was arrested in January and pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy and violating the U.S. Clean Air Act. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday in a federal court in Detroit, where he faces a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.
Schmidt says he was given a list of falsified talking points to follow when he met with a California environmental official in 2015 and “regrettably” agreed to do so. In a letter to the judge, Schmidt says he felt “misused by my own company.”
At VW, Schmidt was general manager of VW’s U.S. engineering and environmental office, which handled emission certification testing. VW admitted in 2015 it had for nearly 10 years rigged some 555,000 diesels sold in the U.S. to evade emission limits.
RELATED CONTENT
-
Robotic Exoskeleton Amplifies Human Strength
The Sarcos Guardian XO Max full-body, all-electric exoskeleton features strength amplification of up to 20 to 1, making 200 pounds—the suit’s upper limit—feel like 10 pounds for the user.
-
Cobots: 14 Things You Need to Know
What jobs do cobots do well? How is a cobot programmed? What’s the ROI? We asked these questions and more to four of the leading suppliers of cobots.
-
On Fuel Cells, Battery Enclosures, and Lucid Air
A skateboard for fuel cells, building a better battery enclosure, what ADAS does, a big engine for boats, the curious case of lean production, what drivers think, and why Lucid is remarkable
