VW exec denied bail in U.S. court over 'diesel gate' scandal

Record ID: 163559

  • Title: VW exec denied bail in U.S. court over 'diesel gate' scandal
  • Date: 9th January 2017
  • Summary: MIAMI, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 9, 2017) (REUTERS) WIDE OF U.S. FEDERAL COURT BUILDING SIGN READING 'C CLYDE ATKINS UNITED STATES COURT HOUSE' FLAG AT COURT FAMILY FRIENDS OF VW EXECUTIVE OLIVER SCHMIDT LEAVING COURT HOUSE UNITED STATES SEAL WIDE OF COURT VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF COURT
  • Embargoed: 24th January 2017 22:19
  • Keywords: Volkswagen court Oliver Schmidt Miami
  • Location: MIAMI, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
  • City: MIAMI, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015YD2A13
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Oliver Schmidt, who was general manager in charge of Volkswagen's environmental and engineering office in Michigan, did not enter a plea at an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Miami on Monday (Jan. 9) and was ordered held pending a hearing on Thursday by U.S. Magistrate Judge William C. Turnoff.
    Schmidt, who was shackled and wearing a jail uniform, was charged with fraud and conspiracy in not disclosing a cheating device used to rig U.S. diesel emissions tests from 2006 through 2015.
    He was arrested on Saturday in Florida after attempting to return to Germany from a vacation there, the Justice Department said. Schmidt's lawyer David Massey said Schmidt had learned of the investigation and reached out to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to offer to cooperate. Schmidt then met with FBI agents in London last year, he said.
    An FBI complaint unsealed on Monday against Schmidt said he and other VW employees told executive management about the "existence, purpose and characteristics" of an emissions cheating device in July 2015, and that the executives chose not to immediately disclose it to U.S. regulators.
    The FBI complaint accused VW of deliberately misleading regulators about cheating pollution tests in the United States, but did not charge the company with a crime.
    Schmidt and other employees gave a presentation about the "defeat device" on or about July 27, 2015, more than a month before the automaker disclosed the device to U.S. regulators in September 2015, the complaint said.
    The cheating allowed nearly 580,0000 of VW's U.S. diesel vehicles sold since 2009 to emit up to 40 times legally allowable pollution levels.
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