U.S. Justice Dept. Asks VW to Delay Diesel Cheating Report

The U.S. Dept. of Justice has asked Volkswagen AG not to release findings of an independent probe into the German carmaker's diesel emission cheating scandal.

The DOJ contends that revealing details now about the cheating—including any names of those involved—will hamper its own criminal investigation into the affair, The Wall Street Journal reports. The department’s probe could lead to criminal indictments and multi-billion-dollar fines.

The Justice Dept. request is not a legal order. But VW's failure to comply could lead to stronger DOJ penalties and complicate the company’s slow-moving efforts to reach agreement with regulators about recalling some 580,000 of its rigged diesels in the U.S.

The request also puts VW in an awkward position. Its shareholders, dealers and customers have been clamoring for an explanation for the cheating, which went on for years and involved 11 million diesels sold worldwide. VW had planned to reveal preliminary results later this month of a continuing independent investigation into the scandal by the global law firm Jones Day.

In addition to the DOJ inquiry, Volkswagen’s diesel-related hurdles in the U.S. include more than 500 civil lawsuits and a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit accusing the company of deceptive advertising about its “clean” diesels.